Primary Colours

A three-player election game, lasting four turns, by Tony Reeves.

1. The board is divided into seven regions as below:

Primary colours: Red, Blue, Yellow.

Secondary colours: Purple, Green, Orange.

2. There are initially 360 voters in each of the seven sections (because 360 factorises well). Those in the primary coloured regions represent voters intending to vote Red, Blue or Yellow respectively, secondary colours (Purple, Green, Orange) are wavering between the two adjacent parties, Browns are the genuine "don't knows."

3. Each player plays one of the parties (Red, Blue or Yellow). Each party has 21 VIP (Voter Influence Points) Tokens, made up as follows:

1 x 6 VIP 2 x 5 VIP 3 x 4 VIP

4 x 3 VIP 5 x 2 VIP 6 x 1 VIP

4. In each of the first three rounds, the competing parties place one token in each of the seven regions (simultaneously). These moves are published in the following turn report.

5. In the final (4th) round, parties are allowed to swap over any two of their own tokens (but only two).

6. The total VIPs in each of the seven regions are compared, starting with the primary colours (see 8).

7. The party contributing the highest total of VIPs in any region causes a movement of voters, as detailed below. (All examples shown below are what happens if Red has the highest total in the region).

a) In own primary region: voters to ballot box, to vote for party (e.g. vote Red).

b) In adjacent secondary region: voters to primary region (e.g. Purple to Red).

c) In opposing primary region: voters to overlapping secondary region (e.g. Blue to Purple).

d) In opposing secondary region: voters to Brown (e.g. Green to Brown).

In the event of a tie in any region, the voters are divided accordingly.

The Brown region is slightly different. All the voters from the Brown region move to the secondary overlap of the two parties playing most VIPs in the Brown region. In a three-way tie, the Brown voters split equally between the three secondary colours. In the event of a tie for second place in the Brown region the voter movement is equally to the two secondary regions (e.g. if Blue and Yellow tie for second voter movemnt is to Purple and Orange)

8. The sequence for deciding voter movement is:

I. All primaries simultaneously.

II. All secondaries simultaneously.

III. The Brown region.

and back to I until all votes are cast or no further movement is possible.

9. The player with the most votes wins. In the case of a tie, the votes are recalculated using the VIP placements as they were after turn 3 but before the turn 4 swaps. If that produces a tie, the position after turn 2 is used. If that produces a tie, the position after turn 1 is used. If that produces a tie, the result is a tie. Opinion polls of the voters' current intentions will be published after each turn. It should be emphasised that the regions are re-set to 360 voters each at the start of each round.