The Political Machine simulates the Presidential election process; your candidate is represented by a bubblehead caricature that you move around from state to state, rallying support, giving speeches, and buying ad time. Like a real nationwide election, planning your week and using the most if your allotted time is vital to success. The game does a fantastic job of leaving you with the feeling that you need to be in five places at once and making the wrong decision can cost you the entire election. You never feel like you have enough time to do everything you need. Do you fly down to Florida to give a speech on Social Security or do you hop on a charter plane to California for a much needed fund raiser? It’s these types of choices that fuel the game.

Your candidate is rated in various categories such as stamina, experience, and charisma as well as in various topical issues such as climate change and the war on terror. In addition, each state is represented fairly accurately in how it plays its politics. The west coast thinks green; Florida is worried about retirement; Ohioans want you to promise them jobs; Alaskans want you to drill to the center of the world and Utah is going to vote Republican—period.

You take this information and do what you can to sway voters in each state by buying local and national ads, giving relevant speeches, hiring various “operatives” (political dirty pool), building campaign HQs and outreach centers, and other basic tasks. All of this stuff costs money as well as your time – both are equally important. A candidate without ample stamina can only do so much whereas a vibrant youngster can tool around the nation getting more accomplished, but money makes the political world go 'round so spending foolishly is a surefire way to lose to Mitt Romney.

The game lampoons a lot of our American political pundits and personalities – from Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Colbert to Larry King. Chris Mathews apparently didn’t make the cut. During the course of the campaign you might get an invite to one of these shows where you answer questions about your views – it’s always very clear which one you should choose and these little tangents aren’t too interesting after you see the Colbert Bobblehead a few times. These shows need to be a bit more confrontational. Even O’Reilly comes off like a softie.

The game plays out much like a boardgame; in fact it’s more compelling than the recently released 1960: The Making of the President boardgame that has proven popular in hobby game circles. The reason is that you are free to campaign however you see fit and are not bogged down by playing event cards. Here, advertising makes sense and you need to work your budget as best you can in order to maximize your actions. You can play follow the leader by simply following your rival when he stops by a battleground state or you can go it alone and stick to your plan. And the trends make sense – especially when you play with an established candidate such as Clinton, Bush, Obama, or even Cheney.