Review: President Dragon

Three candidates for President walk into a bar and debate who will be the next President. The punchline here is that they are all dragons and they are about to debate the wackiest and strangest ways of resolving the problems of the land. I am of course talking about the upcoming Kickstarter game President Dragon by Orcs Unlimited.

I was provided a preview copy of the game by Orcs Unlimited. The final product will differ slightly from whats previewed here. Now that we got that disclaimer out of the way lets dive into President Dragon.

President Dragon comes with two kinds of cards the first set are Debate Prompts these are the issues that will be discussed at the debate tonight. The second set of cards are the Play cards these serve several purposes through the game. The play cards are each divided in two a blue side(hoard) and the orange side(debate) side.

To start the game every player gets 3 of the Play cards. Each of the players plays one of the Play cards down in front of them. This is your Horde you are allowed to have three of these cards played in front of you. Your Horde is a bunch of stuff or people that will help you deal with the debate topic. The Hord cards range from "an eccentric old wizard" to "an unkillable house plant".

"Werewolves are keeping the townspeople up all night with their constant howling"

The first player now draws a Debate Prompt card and reads it aloud. These cards have a lot of funny issues a population run by dragons might have to deal with like "Werewolves are keeping the townspeople up all night with their constant howling". The active player then uses one of the two play cards in their hand to help prompt how they will deal with the issue at hand. The play cards have prompts like "do nothing" or "summon a giant bird" They will have to also use one of their cards from the hoard as part of their mini stump speech. Each other player then does the same.

the eccentric old wizard will summon a giant bird that will devour all the werewolves

After all the speeches are done its time for the election. Each player then votes for another player using that last play card (the backs all say vote). Unlike normal elections you cannot vote for your own awesome plan to have the eccentric old wizard will summon a giant bird that will devour all the werewolves but you can vote for an opponents inferior plan. The player that gets the most votes is now the Dragon President.

This game follows in the footsteps of a long line of party games but has something fresh to add to the genre. Rather than having the a single pairing of cards you add in a few other parameters to make more complex combinations. The theme of election spurs the creativity bringing me back to my time on the debate team in high school. I recommend this game for a group of folks looking for a fresh twist on the party game.

Players: 3-6

Year Published: 2022

Recommended Ages: 8+

Time to Play: 30-60