Stronghold Games has announced that Article 27: The UN Security Council Game is currently shipping to the States and should be available later in the month or in early October.  Designed by Dan Baden, Article 27 is a pure negotiation game designed for from 3-6 players, ages 10 and up.  No knowledge of politics or the UN is necessary to play the game, just a willingness to negotiate, bribe, and backstab the other players.

 

Each player in the game represents a member of the UN Security Council with one vote that includes the right to veto any proposal.  In each round one player acts as the UN Secretary General, who presents the Security Council with a proposal and presides over a 5-minute period of negotiation.  All players can negotiate openly about what they require in terms of points or bribes in order to support the proposal.

 

After five minutes the Secretary General bangs his gavel (a cool wooden gavel comes with the game) and brings the proposal to a vote.  As is the case in the Security Council, any "no" vote kills the proposal, but vetoing costs a player points, which provides an incentive to cut a deal.  After each player has served as Secretary General once (in the 6-player game) or twice (in a 3-person contest), the players tote up their scores based on their bribe money on hand, points scored on the proposal cards, and how well they did based on the secret agenda card they received at the beginning of the game.  There is no dice rolling in Article 27, the results of the game depend entirely on how the players negotiate and vote on the various proposals.