House Rules

The following rules have been contributed by Campaign Secrets players. They are not officially part of the game, but the can add a lot to the game experience.

Post a new rule

Campaigning around the room

If your in a room full of people, when its your turn you may go around the room shake everybodies hand and ask them to vote for you. For each person who says "Yes" you get 3% of the undecided vote, for each "No" you get 0% of the undecided vote. When you do this each other player may play 1 Secret on you.

third-party candidates

A candidate may be nominated for any number of "third parties," or for one major party.  (The major parties are, of course, the Democrats and Republicans.)  This can be used to try and get a number of 5% boosts, or offensively to prevent an opponant from getting a major party nom.

no endorsement flip-flops

Endorsements and nominations are not discarded when played or shuffled back into the deck.  They remain in front of the player who received the nomination.  This prevents multiple nominations for one party in one game.  

no endorsement flip-flops

see synopsis

Super Secrets

Playing Super Secrets will speed up game-play and cause a little more excitement around secrets. To play with this rule simply allow everyone to play as many secrets as possible per round. Therefore if a player has three secrets in his/her hand, s/he may play all of them when it comes to his/her turn. In addition to playing as many secrets as you want, you can play one campaign card per round.

Color Count Combo

To make the game a lot more interesting allow the players to play more than one card per turn, but limit the number of cards per color. For instance, play up to 2 blue cards and one red card per turn. Or play as many blue cards as you want and up to 2 red cards. Or (my favorite) play up to three cards per turn, but no more than two of any color.

Campaign Blitz

I don't know about you, but I like a game that moves pretty fast. So we play with some rules to speed up the game. Each turn takes a little longer, but the game itself is over rather quickly. Here's how it works:

When it comes to your turn play as many campaign cards as you like and up to two secrets per turn. Also you may discard up to one card per turn without playing it.

You'll be drawing more cards and burning through the deck faster, but the game is much more exciting and strategic. Do you hold some cards back hoping for a better combo on your next turn? Do you go all out on one player hoping to beat them into submission? The choice is yours.

Parties

Playing Parties means that once a party has nominated you, you can never be nominated by another party. The strategy herein is that if you get a small party nomination card, you should play it on one of your opponents while you hold out for a better party nomination.

When you have been nominated by a party, lay it face up in front of you so you remember, that you have already been nominated.

Betting Rules

My husband likes to play all sorts of games. I prefer games you can make money at. I play a lot of Black Jack and Texas Holdem. When he introduced me to Campaign Secrets I liked it, but thought it would be better if it were a betting game. With that in mind I've created these simple rules.

Remove the Primaries card from the game and start with the Election Day card in the deck.

Establish the defacto "1 unit" whether that is $1 1 nickel, or a $20 bill =P. If you're playing with chips then you don't need to do this because each chip could represent 1 unit.

Everyone brings a set amount to the table, whether that is $2, $20, $200 or some other random number. In poker this would be called the "Buy In". This money is in effect your percentage of the vote.

There is no "undecided" vote in the beginning. This will change rather quickly as secrets are revealed and so on.

Start playing as normal.

When a card says "Take 5% from any combination of players." Then take 5 units (5 dollars, 5 nickels, etc).

When a secret is revealed the money from the cost goes to the "Undecided Vote" just like normal.

When the Election Day card comes up, the person in the lead after counting secret benefits gets all of the "Undecided Votes". Reshuffle the deck and continue playing.

When you run out of money, you're done. Just like in poker.

The last person with money wins.

Stratagem

If you want the game to be a little longer and more strategic, try playing Stratagem. Under this rule simply put the Election Day and/or Primaries cards at the bottom of the deck rather than shuffling them into the deck. This enables the players to know when each of those cards is coming, and plan their strategies to the very end. Also, because the cards are at the bottom of the deck, the game lasts longer.

Drinkin' Rules

If you're over 21 and want to turn Campaign Secrets into a drinking game, here are some ideas how to do that.

1) Everytime you get a secret, take a drink.

2) Everytime you reveal a secret, everyone else drinks.

3) If you ever run out of percentage points, take a drink. It means you're unpopular and drowning your sorrows in booze!

Running Mates

These rules allow you to play Campaign Secrets with running mates (like a vice-president).

Position the players so that there are no two running mates in a row. Then set up the game as normal. Each set of running mates will share their percentage of the vote with each other, but each can have their own secrets and play their own hand.

Running mates may play cards that reveal secrets on their partners to remove the secret from play rather than paying it's cost. Furthermore, running mates have the option of revealing one of their own secrets instead of letting one of their partner's secrets be revealed--sort of a distraction.

And finally, the limits on how many percentage points you can take from any one player are revoked. Therefore if a card says you can take 8% from any combination of players, but no more than 2% per player, ignore the "no more than 2% per player" part.

My Own Private Secrets

I thought of a better way to use secrets and thought others might want to use it as well.

Whenever you get a card that allows you to reveal a secret you can use it on yourself to take the benefit of the secret instead of paying the cost. Now when you get those cards you have to decide whether you want to get rid of your own secrets for a benefit or spoil another candidate's day.

The people I play with like this way a little better.

No Primaries

If you want a shorter game try playing with No Primaries. This simply means that when you start the game you will shuffle the Election Day card into the deck rather than the Primaries card. Thus, the game is cut in half.

One Last Push

Keep both the Primaries and Election Day cards out of the deck, then deal as normal.

After you've dealt out all the player's hands and their percentages slide the Primaries card somewhere in the middle of the deck. Then put the Election Day card on the bottom of the deck.

Play as normal, until Primaries is revealed.

When the Primaries card comes up, everybody dumps their hand into the discard pile. Then on their turn they each draw a full hand and begin to play as normal.

This rule variant more exactly simulates the election process because:

- Each card is only played once (so you don't get 2 Republican nominations).

- After the Primaries the candidates usually change their strategies.

- Even though there are lots of strategies, they don't all get to come out in the campaign process.


Also, this variant produces a much shorter game, so you can start a new one faster!