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Junta box art
1979 Ranked #1,583

Junta

Political negotiation game where rival families compete for foreign aid and power in a banana republic. Budgets, offices, and assassinations turn every round into a fragile alliance, where a vote can trigger a coup or sudden betrayal.

Strategy Games Bluffing Humor Area Movement Events

Players

2-7

Play time

Not listed

Age

16+

Complexity

2.86/5

Rating

6.69

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Players represent various families in Republica de los Bananas.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Players represent various families in Republica de los Bananas. Each game turn has between 7 and 9 rounds, drawing cards, President assigns roles, foreign aid money is drawn, the president proposes a budget which is voted on, locations are chosen, there are assassination attempts, then the bank may be open or not, there may be a coup and aftermath, then the next round starts. The game is for 4 to 7 players (although there are 2 and 3 player variants). A president for life (El Presidente) is elected and then she or he allocates roles for all other players. Depending upon his or her office and the various cards they hold, each player has a certain number of votes. These are important for the first vote to elect El Presidente and then there are votes each turn on the budget proposed by the President. The budget starts when the President draws 8 money cards face down from the money deck (which varies in denomination from $1 to $3) and proposes allocations. Not everyone will be included in the budget and the amounts are at the President's discretion. The President can keep undisclosed foreign aid money. Players may attempt to assassinate the other players including the President by guessing where they will be from among five locations. Players who successfully assassinate another player take that player's unbanked money, the only safe money is the money that has been deposited in a players' Swiss bank account, and the only way to get to the bank is to survive the assassination round. If players are unhappy, see an advantage, or just want to, and there is a 'coup excuse', they can start a coup. A coup sees players compete using armed forces to control a majority of the 5 power centers. Rebel players control the forces of the role which they were assigned prior to the coup (e.g. army, navy, air force), and players loyal to the President do the same, seeking to control the strongholds until the coup is over. At the conclusion of each coup players who have control of the 5 power centres vote to be pro-President or pro-Junta determining if the President stays, or the Junta wins and elects a new President. And someone is sent to the firing squad. Players assassinated or killed simply become another member of their family and begin again with new cards, but keeping any of their family's funds deposited in their Swiss bank account. The game is won by whoever has the most pesos in their Swiss bank account when the money runs out.

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Editions

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Player resources

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–7
Best with
5–7
Play time
240 min
Age
16+
Complexity
2.9/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

4
Eric Goldberg Ben Grossman Steve Marsh (I) Steven Marsh (II)

Artists

4
Larry Catalano Peter Corless Stephen Crane Stefan Dick

Publishers

4
Alderac Entertainment Group ASS Altenburger Spielkarten Borras Plana S.A. Creative Wargames Workshop