Junta

By V. Tsao, B. Grossmann, E. Goldberg
For 2–7 corrupt revolutionaries, ages 14 and up.

Introduction

Welcome to the beautiful island home of the República de las Bananas, where the chirping of crickets is interrupted only by frequent gunfire in the night. The island’s peasants are poor, its intellectuals oppressed, and its middle class citizens crushed nearly to extinction. The air is thick with humidity, mosquitoes, and the threat of revolution.

The government is supported by a global superpower that delivers large checks and asks no questions. A few wealthy ruling families compete to siphon this foreign aid money into their own secret Swiss Bank Accounts. Power, intrigue, money, and revolution are only a few of their tools.

Each player represents one of these families.

Game Overview

The standard version of JUNTA is intended for 4–7 players. At the end of this rulebook, there are special rules for 2 or 3 players. This game is best played with 7 players.

A game of JUNTA consists of 2 parts:

1. The Political Game: A political-satirical card game, where players use cards to influence the proceedings with votes, assassinations, and unforeseen events.
2. The Coup Game: When a player has had enough of intrigue and treason, he can announce a Coup! Then play switches to the Coup Game. JUNTA becomes a strategic board game, using the large map and the counters to simulate the chaotic fighting during a Coup. Once the Coup Game is resolved, play continues as normal using the cards – until another Coup is announced!

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when the President cannot draw enough cards from the Foreign Aid deck. When this happens, the player with the most money in his Swiss Bank Account wins the game.

The Game Board

The map of the capital on the game board is used only during the Coup Game. The City Districts, the Army Barracks, the Police Precinct stations, the Embassies and the five Power Centers (PCs) are considered areas and are separated from each other by different background colors and colored lines.

Aside from the map of the island, the game board features:

• The Political Track (for game mode 1 of JUNTA, the Political Game), which indicates the phase the players are in.
• The Coup Track (for game mode 2 of JUNTA, the Coup Game).
• Spaces for the draw and discard piles of the Political cards and the Foreign Aid deck.
• Five Power Centers (PCs): Central Bank PC, Parliament PC, Presidential Palace PC, Radio Station PC, Railroad Station PC.

List of Components

• 64 Political cards
• 7 Position cards (with illustrations on both sides)
• 1 First Rebel card
• 7 Swiss Bank Account cards (with the seven family symbols on their back sides)
• 35 Location cards (with the seven family symbols on their back sides)
• 6 Blank cards (for your own card ideas)
• 68 Units counters
• 21 Control markers (with the seven family symbols)
• 8 Game Stage markers
• 96 Play money bills in denominations of 1, 2, or 3 million Pesos (51 ones, 30 twos, 15 threes)
• 1 Banana & 1 Base for the Banana
• 6 Six-sided dice

Board and Player Setup

1. Each player decides on one of the seven families represented by the car, glasses, martini glass, diamond, quill, pocket watch or cigar symbols, and takes:
   • the five Location cards with his family’s symbol on the back,
   • the three Control markers with his symbol,
   • and one Swiss Bank Account card.
2. Place the Game Stage markers on the game board:
   • Place the Political Phase marker on the first space of the Political Track.
   • Place the Coup Phase marker on the first space of the Coup Track.
   • Place the Stable marker on the Political Situation space.
   • Place the Assassination marker on the Death Squad Activity at the Bank space.
   • Set the other markers aside – you will need them later.
3. Shuffle the paper money bills and place them face down on the dedicated space of the game board. This is considered the Foreign Aid for the rest of the game, i.e. of the following game rounds.
4. Shuffle the Political cards. Then each player draws five face-down cards; place the remaining stack of Political cards face down on the dedicated space of the game board.
5. Place the Units counters on the game board as follows:
   • the six counters of each of the three Army Brigades in their respective Barracks,
   • one Police counter in each of the four Police Precinct stations,
   • the four Palace Guards counters in the Presidential Palace,
   • the three Airstrike counters and the Paratroops counter on their respective spaces beside the city,
   • the Marines counter on the space at the bottom right in the Harbor.
6. Finally, elect the first President. Begin the first round with Phase 1 of the Political Game (p. 7).

Electing the First President

Before the game begins, the members of the Parliament, i.e. all players, elect the first President. The game’s owner is the first player to nominate one or more candidates for President – including himself, if desired. Following in clockwise order, each other player has the chance to nominate candidates.

Each nomination must be supported by at least one vote. The players cast votes from Influence and Vote cards as well as the one vote each has as head of the family (but not the votes from the Position cards, as they do not have any yet). Each player may vote for himself or abstain. A player may cast the votes from each card on a different candidate; votes from a single card, however, cannot be split between candidates.

All of the votes cast on the nominees already count toward the outcome. No player is ever required to serve as President; a player may decline if he wishes. In this case, votes cast on that player are lost. Then the discussions and negotiations begin like in a real Parliament.

Afterwards, there is a second voting round, in which each player may play additional Influence and Vote cards to cast additional votes. The player with the highest total number of votes after both rounds becomes first President and takes the President card and the Banana as identification.

In case of a tie, discard all Political cards, including the Influence cards already played; then each player draws five new cards. The game’s owner draws the topmost bill from the Foreign Aid deck for himself and the vote starts again. This process continues until a first President has been elected or the Foreign Aid deck runs out of money, in which case the game ends.

The Political Cards

The symbols in the card description:

• Indicates when a card may be played.
• Describes the requirements for playing the card.
• Describes the effect of playing the card.

There are seven types of Political cards (indicated by the symbol in the top left corner):

• Assassins can Assassinate other players during Phase 6: Assassinations.
• Bribes can let you take control of units or get rid of an Assassin. These cards require the use of pocket money. Put money used in this way back into the game box. The card description indicates when you may play these cards.
• Events represent the political, cultural and military uncertainties of the República de las Bananas. They often let you do something normally not allowed by the rules. The card description indicates when you may play these cards.
• Influence cards provide votes; some also offer assistance with paying bribes or Assassins. They are set face-up in front of the player and remain there until he is killed or explicitly forced to discard them. Even when face-up, they are still part of the hand and cannot be traded once revealed. Influence cards can be played only during an election or roll call vote, or in Phase 1.
• Vote cards are much like the Influence cards but they can only be played during an election or roll call vote and are discarded immediately after the election/vote.
• Coup Events are a special type of Event. Unlike Events, Coup Events can have a requirement (such as “If you have the Influence card XY in front of you, …”) and/or they can be used in Phase 8: Coup to start a Coup even if the Political Situation of the country is Stable. A Coup Event card may introduce new units to the game (Students, Rioters, Demonstrators, Strikers, Bank Guards, the Home Defense League, Christian Militia, and the Helicopter).
• Secret Party Donations are discarded immediately; then the player may draw the topmost bill from the Foreign Aid deck and add it to his pocket money.

The players may trade unrevealed Political cards. No cards may be traded during Phase 6: Assassinations or the Coup Aftermath. Cards can be used only once and are discarded afterwards, except Influence cards or those that say otherwise.

Once you put down a card, it is considered played. If it has requirements and they are not met at the moment that the card is played, you must discard the card immediately without using its effect. You may play cards only on your turn unless they state otherwise.

Foreign Aid

The Foreign Aid deck consists of 96 bills in denominations of 1, 2 and 3 million Pesos and has a dedicated space on the game board.

Money in the Foreign Aid deck can be drawn only by the President during Phase 3: Receiving Foreign Aid Money, or by Political cards that let the player draw from the Foreign Aid deck. The money remaining in the Foreign Aid deck may never be counted.

Money: Pocket Money vs. Swiss Bank Account

Each player keeps his own money face-down in front of him. This is considered his pocket money – as opposed to the money deposited in his Swiss Bank Account. No other player may count or look at this money. A player may trade his pocket money with other players or give it away at any time, except when he is the target of an Assassin or sent to the Firing Squad. Money in a player’s Swiss Bank Account (see Phase 7: Banking) is placed face-down under his Swiss Bank Account card. It may be counted and looked at only by its owner – the other players might have an idea of how much money is in there, but not its total amount.

No player may ever use the Foreign Aid deck or Swiss Bank Accounts to make change. Overpaid money is simply lost. Always put money that you used back into the game box.

The Constitution of the República de las Bananas

The island is governed by the President and the Parliament. The President for Life appoints the members of the cabinet every round, collects the Foreign Aid, and disburses it. The President is only removed from office by death, resignation, Coup, or being voted out due to incompetence by the Presidential Competence Political card. The Parliament elects the President and votes on his Budgets for the distribution of the Foreign Aid money.

The Parliament is controlled by the ruling families, who may use certain cards to increase their influence. The players are both the Parliament and the members of the Cabinet.

Members of the Cabinet and their Duties

• The President
  • controls the Palace Guard;
  • receives the Foreign Aid money (see Phase 3: Receiving Foreign Aid Money on p. 8);
  • proposes the Budget (see Phase 4: The Budget on p. 8);
  • assigns the other six Positions (see Phase 2: Cabinet Assignments on p. 7/8).
• The Minister of Internal Security
  • controls the Police;
  • can seize the Parliament to force the Budget (see Phase 4: The Budget on p. 8);
  • gets a free assassination (see Phase 6: Assassinations on p. 9/10).
• The General of the First Army Brigade
  • controls the First Army Brigade.
• The General of the Second Army Brigade
  • controls the Second Army Brigade.
• The General of the Third Army Brigade
  • controls the Third Army Brigade.
• The Admiral of the Navy
  • controls the Marines and can fire with the Gunboat (see Step 1: The Gunboat and Airstrikes on p. 13).
• The Air Force Commander
  • controls the Paratroops and can make Airstrikes (see Step 1: The Gunboat and Airstrikes on p. 13).

On top of that, each member of the cabinet has one vote in all elections and roll call votes.

Voting Procedure

In the República de las Bananas, each vote follows the same procedure. The President and members of the Parliament, i.e. all players, are eligible to vote. Votes are held by roll call, which consist of two rounds. In the first round, the President votes first; then each other player in clockwise order has a chance to vote. (When electing the President, players vote in favor of a candidate; when a Budget has been proposed, they vote for or against it.)

Each player has a number of votes according to:

• His played Influence cards
• Vote cards that he may now play
• His assumed Positions: Each Position has one vote. In games with 4–7 players, a player may assume no more than two Positions, thus, he may have up to two additional votes. Dead players may not vote.
• On top of that, each player has one vote as the head of his family.

The players may assign the votes of their Influence and Vote cards to different candidates or options. The votes of one card, however, must be assigned to the same target.

Example: Klaus has played the Church (10 votes) and Conservatives (8 votes) Influence cards. He may cast all 18 votes on the Presidential candidate Klaus – himself – or use the 10 votes of the Church on Klaus and the 8 votes of the Conservatives on Ben to show some good will.

After this, the second round begins. Players may now play additional Influence and Vote cards and add them to their votes of the first round.

The candidate or side (for or against) with the highest total number of votes after two rounds wins the election or vote. In case of a tie, the President decides which side wins.

The President

Electing a President

The President is elected according to the usual Voting Procedure as stated in the Constitution of the República de las Bananas.

At the beginning of the game, the players have to elect the first President. This election is slightly different from the usual procedure (see Electing the First President on p. 7).

Presidential Assassination

If the old President is killed during Phase 6: Assassinations, the players must immediately elect a new one (see Voting Procedure on p. 4). The player to the left of the dead President votes first.

In case of a tie, discard all Vote cards and repeat the election. Continue to do so until there is a new President.

The former Positions of the new President are taken over by the old President’s Cousin (see The President’s Cousin and the Positions of Dead Players on p. 10). Consequently, those Positions are “frozen” until the next Phase 2: Cabinet Assignments. The new President takes the Banana for identification.

Presidential Resignation

The President may announce his resignation at any time except during a Coup. Immediately elect a new President (see Voting Procedure on p. 4)!

The old President may use his Presidential vote; he votes first and may be re-elected.

In case of a tie, discard all Vote cards and repeat the election. Continue to do so until there is a new President.

The old President must give all of his pocket money to the new President. The old President takes over the former Positions of the new President. The new President takes the Banana as identification.

Round Structure Overview

A game round of JUNTA goes through nine Phases:

1. Phase 1: Drawing Political Cards – In clockwise order, each player draws two Political cards.
2. Phase 2: Cabinet Assignments – The President assigns the Positions.
3. Phase 3: Receiving Foreign Aid Money – The President draws eight bills from the Foreign Aid deck.
4. Phase 4: The Budget – The President proposes a Budget and the Parliament does a roll call vote on it.
5. Phase 5: Choosing a Location – Each player chooses a Location in secret where he will be staying this round.
6. Phase 6: Assassinations – Players announce Assassinations and resolve them.
7. Phase 7: Banking – If the Bank Is Open and a player has chosen the Central Bank as his location, he may perform transactions with their Swiss Bank Account.
8. Phase 8: Coup – Any player may announce a Coup. In this case, play continues with game mode 2 of JUNTA, the Coup Game (see p. 12).
9. Phase 9: End of the Round – The players prepare the game for the next round.

Move the Political Phase marker along the Political Track as you go through the phases of the Political Game to keep track.

Most actions can be done only in the phase they are permissible. For example, a Coup can be declared only in Phase 8: Coup.

During the Phases, each player may carry out actions on his turn.

Phase 1: Drawing Political Cards

Beginning with the President and in clockwise order, each player draws two Political cards. If the draw pile runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to form the new draw pile. Draw and keep your cards so that the other players cannot see them. Players in Exile may not draw cards.

Then, beginning with the President and in clockwise order, each player may play cards. Afterwards each player must have six or fewer cards in hand. Influence cards in front of a player count toward this limit.

If a player cannot get rid of enough cards (for instance, because he has no cards that may be played during this phase) and cannot trade them away, he must remove the excess by discarding cards from his hand or from the Influence cards he has in front of him, until the hand limit of six cards is reached.

Phase 2: Cabinet Assignments

The President assigns the Positions of the Cabinet to the families, i.e. the players, by handing the corresponding Position card to the player of his choice, with the following conditions:

• The President may not hold another Position.
• Each family must receive at least one Position.
• No family may hold more than two Positions.
• No family may hold two Generals at once.

Example: In a 4-player game, every family besides the President will hold two Positions – one General and one of the other three Positions.

In handing out Cabinet Positions, the President may keep promises he has made earlier, but does not need to. He may keep Position assignments as they were from the previous turn, or make changes. This is the only point in the round at which the President may make changes to these assignments – even if a new player becomes President later in the round.

Phase 3: Receiving Foreign Aid Money

The President draws eight face-down bills from the Foreign Aid deck. He may not show them to any other player.

Phase 4: The Budget

The President must propose a Budget to the Parliament. He declares how he intends to distribute the Foreign Aid money among the players. He does this by forming face-down stacks of money and announcing how much money is in each stack and which player this stack is for. He is not obligated to tell the truth about the amount of money in each stack. He may announce a lower amount – but not more than there actually is in the stack.

Example: Ben does not want the other players to know that he wants to support Jenny with a higher amount of money to gain her loyalty. He claims that Jenny’s stack contains 2 million Pesos (2x 1 million Pesos), but it actually contains 4 million Pesos (2x 2 million Pesos).

The President may include less money than he drew in the Budget (or even none at all), keeping the excess for himself. He may include more money than he drew if he can make up the difference with his pocket money. The President cannot propose a Budget that requires change from another player; he can make change only from his own pocket money.

Example: If the President drew eight bills of denominations of 3 million Pesos each, he may propose to give 15 million to the Minister of Internal Security, 6 million to the General of the First Army Brigade, and 3 million to the Air Force Commander. He can propose another 1 million Pesos to the Admiral of the Navy only if he has 1 million of his own pocket money.

Once the Budget has been proposed, the Parliament (i.e. the players) performs a roll call vote according to the usual Voting Procedure (see p. 4). If the Budget is approved, the President must hand out the promised money to the players. A player may receive more money in his stack than promised, but never less.

If the Budget is defeated, replace the Stable marker on the Political Situation space with the Unstable one for the rest of the round.

When the Budget is defeated:

• The Minister of Internal Security must decide whether he wishes to force the Budget at gunpoint. If he does so, place all four Police units in the Parliament area on the game board. The President must now hand out the money as if the Budget had passed normally. The Central Bank, however, closes for lunch for the rest of the round. Place the Closed for Lunch marker on the Bank Is Open space of the game board.
• If the Minister of Internal Security declines to force the Budget at gunpoint and the Budget remains defeated, the Central Bank closes for a holiday this round; place the Closed for Holiday marker on the Bank Is Open space of the game board. Also, the President keeps all of the bills he drew for the Budget.

The Budget and the Central Bank

• Closed for Lunch: If the Central Bank is closed for lunch due to a forced Budget, the players may not perform any transactions with their Swiss Bank Accounts during Phase 7: Banking. Instead, the players that have chosen the Central Bank as their location in Phase 5: Choosing a Location may perform transactions only during Phase 9: End of the Round.
• Closed for Holiday: If the Budget is defeated, the Central Bank closes for holiday and no player may go banking until the next round, regardless of whether he has chosen the Central Bank as his location or not.

Phase 5: Choosing a Location

Each player must choose a Location where he will be staying this round, or he may go into Exile.

There are five possible Locations:

• Central Bank
• Headquarters
• Home
• Mistress
• Nightclub

Each player has five Location cards, one for each Location. Each player chooses a Location card and places it face-down in front of him. The other four cards are placed aside, face-down. Note that these Locations have nothing to do with the game board. A player’s Location is indicated solely by his card choice; the map is only used during a Coup.

Location Functions

Not all of the locations provide an action. Three of them are used to hide from Assassins (see Phase 6: Assassinations on p. 9/10). Only two locations have an actual function:

• Central Bank: Players who choose the Central Bank may later be able to perform transactions with their Swiss Bank Account (see Phase 7: Banking on p. 10 and Phase 9: End of the Round on p. 11).
• Headquarters: Players who choose the Headquarters will later be able to announce a Coup even if the Political Situation is Stable at that time.
• Home, Mistress, and Nightclub: Do not have a special function (used for hiding).

Exile

A player may go into Exile during this phase by announcing it and placing one of his Control markers in an Embassy area on the game board. A player in Exile is considered outside the game.

• He is safe during Phase 6: Assassinations, but likewise he may not hire Assassins of his own.
• He cannot be executed by the President (old or new) during the Coup Aftermath.
• A player in Exile cannot participate in elections/votes or control units during a Coup – his units do not move.
• Players in Exile generally keep their Positions until the next Phase 2: Cabinet Assignments.
• The President cannot go into Exile unless he resigns first, which immediately results in the election of a new President.

Returning from Exile

During Phase 9: End of the Round, a player in Exile can return to the island after the other players have finished their Central Bank transactions if he pays one bill of his choice from his pocket money. If he does not return, he must pay one bill from his Swiss Bank Account to continue his luxurious life abroad.

If the player cannot pay the return fee from his pocket money, he must instead pay one bill from his Swiss Bank Account. If he has neither pocket money nor money deposited in his Swiss Bank Account, and is solely living from the welfare of foreign superpowers, he pays nothing. In this case, he may return safely without paying.

Note: A player in Exile may still win the game if the game ends and he has the most money deposited in his Swiss Bank Account.

Phase 6: Assassinations

During this phase, the players have the chance to guess the Locations of the other players and kill them by playing Assassin cards.

1. First, the Minister of Internal Security announces his assassinations, if any. The Minister is in control of the Death Squad and has a free assassination, i.e. he may announce one assassination without playing an Assassin card. Any other assassinations (by the Minister or another player) must be supported with an Assassin card.
2. After the Minister of Internal Security has announced his assassinations, each of the other players has a chance to do so, going clockwise around the table.

An assassination is announced by playing an Assassin card, naming the potential victim and guessing his Location – see Phase 5: Choosing a Location. No Locations are revealed until all assassinations have been announced. If a player’s Location has been guessed correctly, this player is dead unless the Assassin card or another Political card says otherwise. Assassinations are resolved in the order in which they are announced. Resolve all assassinations, even from players who are killed during the process.