How To Play
Choose 2 players to run as Candidates for office. Everyone else is the Press. The role of the candidates is have an entertaining debate based on the cards they draw. The role of the press is to bombard them with questions. You can nominate candidates any way you want, but here is one method: anyone can call out a nomination, which the nominee can choose to accept or reject. The first two people to accept nominations are the candidates. If there aren't enough candidates, move to volunteers. If there aren't enough volunteers, maybe nobody actually wanted to play and you should try pictionary instead. If too many people nominate/voluteer, try to find consensus on who should be saved for the next round. For large groups, or groups that want snappier rounds, nominate/volunteer a moderator at this time.
The Electoral Candidates each draw 3 Platform cards and give a speech. Shuffle the platforma and scandal decks and have the candidates each draw three platform cards. Each candidate should give a short speech on their 3 platform cards. The recommended time limit is about 1 minute per speech. You can say anything to introduce, build up to, or draw connections between your individual platforms, but when you officially introduce a platform, place the card in front of you and read it (with light paraphrasing for grammatical flow). For example, "And that's why I believe [insert card text here]". This process helps give the other players something concrete to ask about and help punctuate your speech. Protip: feel free to put on a persona for the duration of your candidacy, up to and beyond demeanor and made up facts about your past.
The Candidates take questions from the Press. The rest of the players are the Press. The Press's job is to ask piercing, insightful, and entertaining questions about the candidate's ridiculous platforms. If your group has appointed a moderator, they should call on people to ask their questions. Otherwise, the candidates should take turns calling on people. As for what the questions should be, follow your sense of fun. You can ask about the implications of a platform, even inventing details such as, "Wombat advocacy groups are up in arms about [insert policy implication here], care to respond?" You can ask about implementation plans, how platforms interact, or even what one candidate thinks about the other's position. The key is find fun in taking the absurd seriously. The recommended time limit is about 8 minutes; feel free to go longer, but don't forget about the scandals in the next phase!
The Press reveals a Scandal card for each Candidate. As the first round of questions wraps up the moderator (or enterprising press members if there is no moderator) should hand out a scandal card to two different press members. Within the normal course of questioning, one of them reveals the scandal, assigning it to a candidate of their choice. Example: "We have recent reports that you [insert scandal card text here], my readers want to know: how do you sleep at night?" The candidate can respond with denial, deflection, or justification, but they are definitely guilty, so the press may pile on with further incriminating evidence. The press member with the other scandal card should then reveal their scandal for the other candidate, and the accusations start all over again.
The Candidates take even more questions from the Press. Questions may continue as before in light of the new scandals. The recommended time for scandal reveal, response, and follow up is two and a half minutes per candidate
Everybody votes for their favorite Candidate and the Winner is announced! The recommended voting method is to grab some pencils and strips of paper for an anonymous ballot collected in some sort of bowl or hat. In a pinch, you could also have everyone point to their choice on the count of three. Count the total votes for each candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins. In the event of a tie, the vote goes to the United States House of Representatives. Since they are likely unavailable, play rock paper scissors instead. If that ends in a tie 100 times in a row, you are legally allowed to fight to the death. Just tell the police a card game from the internet said it was ok.