Capstone Games Watergate – 2 Player Strategy Board Game for Adults, Historical Tabletop Game, 30–60 Min Playtime, Ages 12+, Competitive and Tactical Gameplay for Couples & Family Fun

My friend and I play a lot of Carcassonne, and we were looking for something new and a bit, well, shorter. Watergate was the perfect pick! It’s relatively easy to learn but the strategy can get very involved. And it only takes about 30-60 minutes so you can get a few games in in one sitting. The cards seemed a bit prone to damage (I started to see marks on the edges pretty early on) but otherwise the quality seems good and not too flimsy. Game nerds should definitely add this one to the repertoire!

My favorite game! I've played this over a hundred times and it just doesn't get old! It plays fast, but you're always trying to figure out the perfect combo play for your cards to achieve your objectives and thwart your opponents. Fun figuring out the balance of when to spread out your abilities to work on all fronts or focus in on one object this round knowing your opponent may be able to stop either and leave you dejected. It's just great!

I love this game! It's such a back-and-forth and equally balanced between the journalists and the Nixon Administration. Every move is super intense. There are no wasted actions. In Watergate, the players take turns playing cards that represent the major events and people involved in the Watergate scandal. One side plays a journalist who is trying to establish a link between Nixon and two co-conspirators. The other side plays the Nixon Administration, who is trying to block those links and misdirect the investigation. Play takes place on a really cool board that has string and thumbtacks. Evidence tokens can be placed by the journalist on the thumbtacks, representing something that will eventually tie Nixon to a co-conspirator if they can be laid in an unbroken line to a witness that has been recruited to the journalist's side. Similarly, Nixon can destroy a piece of evidence by placing the token on the thumbtack upside down, thereby breaking part of the chain. Or the players can move their influence and momentum tokens, to try to get more powerful moves (in the journalist's case) or to last out the term (in Nixon's case). Deciding what to do and how to use your cards -- which can be used in different ways -- is the crux of the game. It's a constant back-and-forth and every decision is agonizing in a good way. Both sides are super-balanced as well, and it's fun to switch roles and learn all the cards. In the process, you might also get to learn a little about the Watergate scandal itself, though you really don't need to be interested in history or even care about the scandal in order to enjoy the game. The gameplay is honestly that good. A really great two-player game for adults and older teens.

Easy to learn, good strategy, fun historical game. Cards contain information about real event related to Watergate scandal. It's 2 player only, but games are fast enough that you can play multiple times in one sitting. In fact I would recommend that you play at least 2 games together, switch sides between games. The side follow the same core rules, but do play differently. Strong recommend. If you really enjoy this game and would something with much more depth about the Cold War, I would definitely recommend that you check out Twilight Struggle by GMT. Much longer playtime and more complex, but an incredible game covering the entire Cold War.

Don't let the name fool you. Though it references the early 1970s scandal that led to the only resignation of an American President in history, the game requires absolutely no knowledge of that scandal to compete effectively. The more you play it, though, the more you'll come to understand what that 50-year-old scandal was all about, because in the process of play, you'll be utilizing tools, in the form of cards, that offer you glimpses into specific people, actions and consequences of that time and place. If you're a high school history teacher, this would be a great game to introduce to students. Not only would it provide a glimpse into the events surrounding the scandal, but it would also provide the students with a strong, strategy/tactics game to figure out. Without delving into too many specifics about the rules, one player takes on the role of Nixon, while the other plays a journalist. Each has a different goal; the journalist is trying to connect at least two people involved with the scandal directly to Nixon, while Nixon is trying to block the journalist's discoveries. Each player has a separate deck of 20 cards, which are used in groups of five (or four) to constitute a single round of play. Whichever player has the 'momentum,' determined at the start to be the journalist and in later rounds, to be whoever has managed to obtain more 'momentum' progress on a Research track, starts the card play (The player with 'momentum' at the start of a turn gets 5 cards, the other player gets 4). Each card has two options, indicated by two sections of a card. One either uses its Value or its Action. Example: One of Nixon's cards (a Conspirator card - Haldeman) has a Value of 1, or you can use its Action - "On the research track, move each evidence token 1 step." The Value of the card, combined with a color (in the case of the Haldemann card, that color is blue), allows a player to move what are known as Evidence tokens toward you on a Research track (it would need, in this case, to be a blue Evidence token), or move a momentum or initiative token toward you, the number of spaces indicated on the card (in the example, 1 space). At the end of a single round (each player has used all of the 5, or 4 cards he grabbed from his pack of 20 at the start), Evidence. momentum and initiative tokens will either be on Nixon's side of the research track or the journalist's side (or possibly in a 0 space on neither side) and actions are taken accordingly. If a colored (blue, yellow, green or combinations of two colors) Evidence token is on Nixon's side of the Research track, the player gets to put that token on the board, face down (blocking evidence). If it's on the journalist's side, it goes onto the board face-up and becomes a link in a chain of evidence tokens, marching from the picture of Nixon in the center to the edge of the board where it connects to one of the game's seven picture tiles of key figures (informants) in the scandal. The game is over when the journalist connects at least two of the picture tiles on the board's perimeter to the center picture of Nixon, OR, Nixon successfully collects five (red) momentum tokens, earned by moving the token in his direction on the Research track (by utilizing the Value option in a given card and moving that token 'x' amount of spaces as indicated on the card) and having it end up on his side of that Research track at the end of the round. Do that five times successfully and the game is over. There's a little more to it, rule-wise, than that, but that's the basic idea. It is a game of medium complexity and not likely to be immediately enjoyed by people who don't generally play strategy/tactics games. The game also rewards a strong familiarity with the 20 cards in each player's hand. Knowing at the start of a game, for example, that certain cards remain in your deck, as you play 5 (or 4) cards that you drew at the start of a round is helpful. In some cases, cards played in a round are discarded and after going through the deck of 20 (5, or 4 at a time), the discards are re-shuffled and come back into play. Other cards, though, and this is only true when you use the Action option of a card, get removed from the game permanently. A Nixon card, with the title "A third-rate burglary," for example, which (choosing to take the card's Action), allows you to "move 1 evidence token back to the 0 space on the research track and the momentum token to the 1 space on your side of the research track (Nixon's side, in this case). But, and this is a BIG "but," you have to remove this card from the game, permanently. It will take a while before you get comfortable with the ebb and flow of when that Action (or others, in either player's deck) is worth removing the card from the game. It's not for everybody this game, and believe me when I tell you, "Uno" or "Yahtzee" it is not. If, however, you like games that require you to put on a relatively serious thinking cap, this could work for you. It is also not "Twilight Struggle," another two-player game that utilizes the same sort of card mechanics (two-part cards from which you choose one of the options) in service of a game in which the complexity, compared to "Watergate" is not just squared, but arguably cubed. With "Twilight Struggle" firmly camped on the 'heavy weight' side of a game complexity fence, "Watergate" sits atop that fence; part of it on the "Twilight Struggle" side with the other side firmly attached to its simplicity roots. "Watergate" is a compelling and dare I say, educational game experience for two.

Such an amazing and tight game for 2 people. Ryles might seem overwhelming but once you get it its not that complicated. I will suggest following some youtube tutorial for a quick tutorial buttsrotally worth it

This game is fun and quick and has loads of information about the actual events of the whole Watergate scandal. Great for two people with 30 minutes to kill.

I love this game - one takes the moral high road, one takes the easier option - its an arm wrestle!

Enjoying the game so far (only played twice). The overall quality is reasonable. The one criticism I have is that the cards are warped/bent as if they were wrapped too tightly in the plastic. Another thing is that I can see how in time the cardboard tokens can become worn or peel around the edges as they aren't as smooth as those of some other games. The gameboard, box and card quality is very good and the wooden pieces nice & chunky. Plus the rulebook is full of interesting historical facts around the incident. You can get it cheaper from other retailers in the UK though...

Mi esposa y yo hemos estado juntando juegos para dos personas en esta pandemia, y definitivamente uno de los mejores es Watergate. Es dinámico estratégico y no bien acabas una partida quieres comenzar la siguiente.

En ces temps de pandémie, ce jeu à 2 joueurs est très bien pour se divertir. Qu'on soit féru d'histoire ou non, le jeu fonctionne très bien (des concepts d'affrontement, des cartes en réponse de l'action de l'autre, le mécanisme de ligne de progression). Évidemment pour les amoureux des scandales historiques, le jeu prend beaucoup plus de profondeur mais c'est optionnel, tout le monde peut y trouver son compte. Les cartes sont superbes, les jetons sont de qualité et les règles ne font que 11 pages courtes, les autres n'expliquent que le contexte historique de certains évènements ou personnages présents dans le jeu. En tant que joueur très expérimenté, je me suis amusé malgré tout car au départ je craignais les jeux à deux joueurs.

Excellent jeu! Même si vous n'avez aucune idée c'est quoi le Watergate, vous allez adorer! La mécanique est originale et on doit être alerte tout au long de la partie. Pour les fans d'histoire, toute la saga et les personnages y sont présentés. Un must pour 2 joueurs!