Goal

Watergate is a historical 1 vs. 1 asymmetric game set in the U.S.A during the early 1970s. In 1972, five men are arrested at the Watergate building, which houses the Democratic national convention. Over the course of time, reporters at the Washington Post uncover that these men were directed by Richard Nixon, the President of the United States at the time. In 1974, Richard Nixon resigns as he faces impeachment.

In this game, one player will play as Nixon, while the others play as the editors of the Washington Post. The Editor player is attempting to connect two face-up Informants to the President on the pinboard, by a route of face-up Evidence tokens. The Nixon Administration player is trying to make it to the end of the term (by collecting 5 Momentum tokens) without that happening. Each has a unique set of cards and will be manipulating evidence, informants, and momentum to try to gain the victory.

Overview

The board is set up with two main sections: the evidence board, and the research track. The game is played in rounds, with each player using cards to manipulate the tokens on the research track to their side. Once the players are out of cards, the evaluation phase of the round begins. At that point, each player will place evidence on the board, the winner will take the momentum token, and initiative will be determined. If neither player has obtained victory, the next round will be then be set up and play will continue.

Evidence

Evidence are tokens that display one or two of three possible colors: blue, green, and yellow. Each color corresponds with a color on the evidence board which shows where the evidence can be pinned. The Nixon player will pin evidence face-down to block the editor's paths, while the editor will pin it face up to create paths from Nixon at the center of the board to informants at the edge of the board. The players will be moving the evidence tokens on the research track, trying to pull them to their own side so that they may place them on the board at the end of the card phase.

Informants

Informants are the people on the edges of the evidence board. They have the evidence that will break the Nixon administration, the editor just needs to find them and connect them to Nixon through evidence. The editor will win if they can place and connect two informants with Nixon via evidence tokens. The Nixon administration is trying to discredit these informants by placing them face-down and/or by breaking the lines of evidence to the informants through face-down evidence tokens.

Momentum

The red momentum token is the primary way that the Nixon administration wins. Whoever has the evidence token on their side of the board (if it is neutral, it is discarded from the game) will place the token on their momentum track. The editor's momentum track gives powerful abilities, while the Nixon track doesn't give abilities, but if Nixon wins five momentum tokens, he wins the game!

Initiative

At the start of the game, the editor player has the initiative, meaning that they will draw five cards to play, while the Nixon player will draw four. Whoever wins white initiative token will take initiative for the next round. If it is neutral, initiative will flip.

Each round

Each round is broken up into three phases, the initial phase of setup, the card phase where players will take turns playing cards, and the evaluation phase where players will pin evidence.

Initial Phase

Looking at the initiative card, the player with initiative will draw five cards, while the other player will draw four. The player with initiative will therefore go both first and last in the card phase. The Nixon player will draw three random evidence tokens, looking at them secretly so that only they know what color(s) the tokens are, and place them onto the zero space of the research track.

Card Phase

Playing a Card for its Value

Starting with the player with initiative, the players will take turns playing cards. Each card can be used in two ways: for its value or for its action. If you use its value, look in the top left. That will tell you what color(s) of evidence tokens may be moved and how far. The player can also move a token. If no face-up evidence token in that color exists for the Editor player, the Editor may ask the Nixon player for a token in a particular color. Even if your card shows multiple colors, you must then pick one color from those shown. If a token with that color on it is on the board, the Nixon player will flip it face up (choosing one among many if needed) and it will move toward the editor based on the number on the card. If Nixon is moving a token, the Nixon player must either move a face-up token with that color, or flip a face-down token with that color face-up and move it. Once used for its value, the card is discarded into a discard pile, where it will be reshuffled into a new draw pile if the player runs out of cards to draw.

Playing a Card for its Action

The text of the action will describe what it does. Action cards come in three types.

Event Action Cards

Most action cards are events. They are one-time use. Often they will pin an informant face-up or face-down to the evidence board, creating or blocking possible winning paths for the Editor player.

Conspirator and Journalist Action Cards

Only Nixon has conspirators and only the Editor has journalists. Once used, these are discarded as normal into the discard pile.

Evaluation Phase

1. Any evidence tokens on the neutral (0) space are returned to the bag.
2. Whomever won the initiative token takes initiative for the next round.
3. Whomever won the momentum token takes it and adds it to their momentum track. If it is on the neutral (0) space, it is discarded from the game. If there are no momentum tokens remaining, the Nixon player has lost!
4. Place the initiative token and new momentum token on to the neutral (0) space.
5. Award the evidence tokens to their winners. The player with initiative goes first, pinning evidence face-down or face-up to the board. Some evidence tokens have a red circle with a (1) in it. If the player pins an evidence token with that symbol, they move the new momentum token one space toward themselves.

Game End

The game ends in a victory for Nixon if the Nixon player has five momentum tokens, or in rare cases, if there are no more momentum tokens left in the supply to be placed on the research track during step 4 of the Evaluation Phase.

The Editor wins if two face up informants have paths leading to Nixon through face-up evidence tokens on the evidence board.