Here is another fabulous and timely game from Aristoplay! This board game does a great job of introducing children to the electoral and election process while throwing in a hearty helping of US geography and history. (I just love it when a game teaches so many things!)

Each player is playing to win the US Presidency. The first step is to become the party candidate by obtaining enough delegate votes at the Convention. During the candidate phase, players move around the outer border of the game board. The border is decorated with photos or drawings of each of our presidents, along with their names, numbers, and dates in office. There is a blank space to add #44, by the way. Players move by rolling the dice and answering questions on President cards. There are 4 levels of difficulty on each card, so the playing field can be leveled, so to speak, by having younger players answer easier cards. Many of the questions may seem extremely difficult at first glance, but a lot of helpful information is found by looking at the presidents around the border. For example, one easiest level question is "Name 2 presidents named Franklin." Neither my children or I knew that one right of the bat, but it was not to hard to figure out if we took the time to read the names of the presidents on the board. In other cases, the dates in office are similarly helpful.

Once a player becomes a candidate, he begins trekking around the U.S.A. on the campaign trail. During this part of the game, players move around a beautiful U.S. map that makes up the center of the board. Again, players move by rolling the dice and by answering questions, but this time the questions deal with US geography. As above, perusing the map can often yield helpful clues. There is also some strategy here, as there is a lot of flexibility in the directions that a player may choose to move around the board. Not only does the winner need to obtain sufficient votes, he must also end up on the Presidential Seal near D.C.

We really, really enjoyed this game. Although our family is not studying American History this year, I was surprised at how much my children knew and/or could figure out. I love the timeliness of this game and was very pleased to have such a fun activity that helped my children truly grasp the election process. Highly recommended!!!!!!!

NOTE: Aristoplay is famous for its multi-age games, and while this game can truly be played by people with a variety of different abilities, it is not for everyone. Younger children who cannot read well enough to use the clues on the board will have a difficult time. Also, be aware that a scoring sheet is used to tabluate votes, so at least one player needs to have decent math and record-keeping skills. At our house, a riot would have ensued if at least the older half of the children were not all included in testing a new game, so Jeff and I freely made up even easier questions for the younger children. We have also enjoyed simply cuddling up on the couch with the card deck and handing each card to the person who answers a question correctly - again, making up some questions so that the little ones were not excluded. (With our 3 year old, that did mean things like what town we live in, what our phone number is, etc.) If you want to play "by the book" then I would stick pretty close to Aristoplay's suggestion of ages 10 and up (bright 8-9 year olds would be fine too).