"Run Off"

One incredibly fun board game we were able to unpack and have been playing recently is called Run Off. The game involves the United States Presidential Election, and you need to attain the majority of the electoral vote to win the game (as you do in the real-life election); to win electoral votes, you need to answer questions correctly, and each correct answer is worth five electoral votes (you place your votes in a state of your choosing, and once you have more than half a state's electoral vote, you win that state). The question topics range from US history and geography to civics/law and general knowledge, plus quotes from historical figures.

The game is somewhat dated, as some of the information is now obsolete (some population figures, including the fact that the game is based on the 1990 Census when it comes to the Electoral College). However, it is still more than 90% correct, and it is heaps of fun anyhow. Here are the electoral maps of a select few of our games of Run Off (I am purple in all three):

This game was the very first we ever played, and was done years ago. It involved my mother, brother, and myself. My brother was defeated in the first round with only 145 electoral votes to my 180 and my mother's 213. When my mother and I competed for my brother's states in the second round, she won with 290 electoral votes on only 20 states and without D.C. This go remains the best electoral votes-to-states ratio for any of us to date.

This go was played in the last couple of weeks, with my brother and I going against each other. At 305 electoral votes to my 233, my brother currently holds the largest margin of victory out of us all.

Now this go was played just last night and past midnight: my brother versus me. As of now, it is the only time I have won Run Off (out of many games played), and at 270-268, it is the narrowest margin of victory possible without the election being a tie. Interestingly, my brother based the above result if it had taken place on the 2010 Census, and he calculated that the above combination of states would lead to a 269-269 result (he is sure that he got nothing wrong when he worked it out). I won 23 states but took D.C.

Run Off may be have been a board game we got for cheap at Barnes & Noble in Medford, but it is a very fun and educational game, so if you do come across it, I recommend getting it. A similar British-based game where you would have to win UK counties by answering questions correctly would be interesting too.

Note: above images are not originally mine, but rather, are our modified versions of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege1992.svg. Licensing is listed on that page.