Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Swing States is a solitaire game simulating a U.S. presidential election in a given year.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Campaign Card Play
Play cards to command conflicts and carry consequences through a campaign.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Voting
Players collectively approve, reject, or select an outcome through votes.
Solo / Solitaire Game
Provide rules and objectives designed for a single player.
Read the full game description
Swing States is a solitaire game simulating a U.S. presidential election in a given year. You are a political strategist hired by the nominee to win the Presidential Election for either the Democratic Party (symbolized by a donkey) or the Republican Party (symbolized by an elephant). You must make strategic decisions regarding fund-raising and expenditures, where to campaign and where to advertise, when and where to send the nominees and vital surrogates, how much time they should spend fund-raising, preparing for debates, conducting opposition research, and dealing with scandals that appear out of nowhere. Grab a campaign button and vote for Swing States today! Game Data: Complexity: 4 on a 9 scale Solitaire Suitability: 9 on a 9 scale Scale: The player is a political strategist, and the play of one Game Turn equals about half a week of real time (i.e., the days between each party’s nominating convention in the late summer and the general election in early November).