Last week I had a serendipitous event that delighted me so much! I got to play the fabulous game pictured above! Hooray! I’ve had this game for five years now. I’ve attempted to play it a few times, but the rules book overwhelmed me sooo much that I just didn’t get past reading the rules to play the game. So, it has sat unplayed on my shelf for five years. That all changed recently when my 22-year-old son arrived home, on Independence Day, after being on the U.S. east coast for a few months. He left Maryland on the Saturday before, drove to Maine to see my sister and her family, then left my sister’s on Monday afternoon and got to Utah on Thursday morning, during the grand parade. Wow! That’s some serious long-distance driving. Only for the single twentysomething life LOL!

He unpacked, and we ate a yummy BBQ dinner using the Freedom Loving Conversation Starters from this list I’ve linked over here, from Jennifer Flanders. Then we watched Episode 2 of the John Adams HBO mini-series. It’s a family tradition to watch it every year, because so far it is the best video depiction I know of that shows the Second Continental Congress in action declaring independence. After the movie was over, we had our homemade ice cream (also a tradition for the holiday) and then our relatives left. The other kiddos disappeared in bedrooms to do their own thing, my husband took a nap, so Mr. L was my captive audience with nothing to do. Yay! Of course I thought of playing a board game together. I gingerly suggested this game, in light of the patriotic theme of the holiday, and surprisingly he took me up on it! He agreed to read the rules, digest them, and teach them to us. I roused my husband after my son had read the rules and asked if he would play it with us. I was surprised that my husband agreed to do it as usually he only wants to play a game if someone in the group has played it before.

I was delighted by how fun and strategic it was. It was actually simpler than the rules book made it out to look. Just to clarify, this game is a simulation of the Constitutional Convention not the Second Continental Congress, which Independence Day is about. Some of the same people were involved in both events however, and both events took place in the same place, so the game still fits the theme of the day, patriotism. In the game, the goal is to get the most points. You get points in three ways: being on the winning side of the vote, winning debates (no actual debating is involved, it just means you place a marker on the debate track), and having people in the spillover room (I can’t remember the name) after the round of voting is over in the main assembly room.

Each player has a hand of cards, with a different Founding Father on each card. Each card has symbols to denote the causes or factions the person was aligned with, like Anti-federalists, Federalists, Small States, Big States. Those symbols determine where you can put the person/card on the debate track or on the floor for the vote. Each Founding Father has a “special power” kind of like the characters in the Villainous board game. Watch out for George Washington, as he can end the vote at any time so that you can win without waiting for the normal threshold of six “yeas” to be met. He’s powerful! There’s also a Founding Father card that antidotes that power preemptively. I was so glad I played that card when I did as my husband revealed he was about to play his George card. Ben Franklin also has amazing powers, as befitting the great statesman. I love the “flavor text,” which is the paragraph at the top of the card that teaches you real history about the real person. So you can be learning history as you play, if you take the time to read the cards.

Watch the video below for more about it and then go get the game! Play it anytime you are with people who enjoy learning about American history and also enjoy strategy games involving resource management.

Now that I’ve played the game, I hope to play it around every Independence Day and Constitution Day. I just love the vibes! I’m also going to add it to my list of July activities on my family traditions website over here.