Players (4) take the role of members of EU Parliament (MEPs) and must navigate a challenge facing EU member states (in this case, Russia’s threat to European security). Players must tackle the challenge by negotiating a legislative proposal: a directive on strengthening EU defence cooperation and security policy. Each player represents one of four political groups—Ecology, Tradition, Liberty, Solidarity—and receives a set of predetermined amendments to the legislative proposal. Players deliver public speeches to present their viewpoints, discuss the merits of each amendment, and make decisions by voting. In addition, they must respond to unforeseen in-game events (breaking news, change requests from other EU institutions, etc).
Game explain the EU legislative process to promote democratic values and civic engagement, targeting young people: students aged 16–20.
Game Components
The game includes the following components:
- 4 political group profile cards
- 1 legislative proposal card
- 36 amendment cards in 7 categories (collective security, resource sharing, defence innovation, crisis response mechanisms, energy security, diplomacy, and unity, awareness, and resilience)
- 36 event cards in 7 categories (bad news, good news, council intervention, stakeholders’ intervention, question from a stakeholder, question from the media, breaking news)
- 100 political credit coins (not part of the downloadable set).
Game Rules
- Each player randomly selects a political group (Ecology, Tradition, Liberty, Solidarity) card and becomes familiar with their values.
- A legislative proposal (directive) will be placed on the table.
- Randomly deal 5 amendment cards to each player. The rest of the amendment cards will stay in the deck.
- Players can trade amendment cards with each other to obtain a hand of amendments that best represent their political group values.
- Each player starts with an equal number of political credits (5 coins per player).
- The youngest player will choose and play an amendment card closest to their political values (how the political groups support an amendment is represented on the cards by small party logo icons) and will likely pass (it is also suitable for some other political groups). Players can suggest amendments only to the articles that are still open. If the player does not have a suitable card, pick another amendment from the deck. If this doesn’t help, skip the turn.
- The same player must give a speech to promote the amendment.
- Other players discuss the amendment’s pros and cons. After the discussion, players vote on whether to accept it. In the case of a tie, the amendment is rejected.
- If the amendment is accepted, all players earn political credit (the number is specified on the card). The accepted amendment card will stay on the table as part of the legislative proposal.
- If the amendment is rejected, the card is removed from the table. No credit will be earned.
- The same player then selects and plays a random event card. Random events can cause a loss or gain of political credit and generate extra activities for one or all players. Detailed guidelines can be found on cards.
- The same player selects a new amendment from the deck.
- Now is the turn for the next player on the left.
- The game can be finished if all articles of the legislative proposal have exactly 1 amendment. The game ends with a final vote to accept or reject the legislative proposal, including its amendments (collected during the game).
- Winning condition: The player with the highest political credit has the biggest chance of winning the next elections (and thus is the winner of the game).
- Losing condition: If a player runs out of political credit, she is expelled from the EP, and the game ends for her.
Do not use “Create your Amendment” or “Create your Event” cards during the first turn of the game.
