Watergate: A Tug-of-war Presidential Scandal

This review of Watergate is featured on Episode 69 of The Five By. Check out the rest of the episode, which also features Shards of Infinity: Relics of the Future, Hundreds of Horses, Lines of Action and Point Salad.

When I first heard that Capstone Games was releasing a game on former President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, I immediately knew I had to play this game. Political history and journalism — well, for those who know me in real life, this is exactly right in my wheelhouse.

Watergate, published in 2019 and designed by Matthias Cramer, is a 2P card-driven game that plays in about 30 to 60 minutes. It’s similar to one of my absolute favorite games, Twilight Struggle, but much less punishing while still maintaining the historic tug-of-war feel of this scandal — and in a fraction of the time.  

In Watergate, one player plays the side of a Washington Post Editor trying to connect Nixon to his informers, while Nixon is trying to hang onto his presidency and not resign. Each player gets their own individual deck of cards to play with, and a small evidence board that contains a research track sits in between the players.

There are also cards that keeps track of Nixon’s and the newspaper’s win conditions, as well as who has the initiative for the round. The player with the initiative will draw 5 cards in a round and go first, whereas the other player only gets 4 cards.  

On your turn, you play one card, either for its value part or its action part. The value part shows a number that you can move either the initiative or momentum token toward you on the research track or move an evidence token the same number as spaces as well.

There are three random evidence tokens placed face-down on the research track at the start of the round. They get flipped face up when they move, and these tokens are important for the Editor to connect Nixon to his informants on the board, or for Nixon to block those connections.

The evidence board looks like a giant corkboard with a bunch of lines and push pins printed on it. When either side claims an evidence token (either by placing it on the 5 spot on their side of the research track or when the round ends), it’s placed on the board face up by the Editor or face down by Nixon. As the board fills up, it starts to look like those investigation boards you often see in the movies when someone is working hard to uncover a conspiracy and connecting all the dots.

Also, instead of using the value part when you play a card, you can also play the action portion. Sometimes these actions are one-time events that are so powerful that you then have to remove the card from the game.

These events are also how you can get informants onto the board. Each informant has exactly two cards; Nixon has one, and the Editor has one. If Nixon plays his card first, the informant is placed face down on the board, thereby closing off that pathway to victory for the Editor.

After all the cards are played, the round ends. Momentum and initiative tokens are awarded to the side they’re sitting on, and evidence tokens are placed by their respective winners as well.

The rounds continue until one side reaches their objective: Nixon manages to gain 5 momentum markers on his card, or the Editor connects Nixon to two informants on the evidence board.

Unlike other card-driven games, Watergate gives each side their own player deck to cycle from and playing cards from your hand does not trigger good things for your opponent. And while I’ve heard some criticism of not having a large deck to cycle through and people getting too familiar with all the cards, I think this is a benefit as when players get more familiar with the game, there’s additional built-up tension bracing for that one particular card that your opponent still hasn’t played that could totally mess with you.

What I particularly love about this game is that you and your opponent can play a game and then switch sides and play another game immediately — and it still hasn’t taken up your entire evening. It also has a small footprint and can easily be set up and taken down. The box is small, about the size of a personal pizza box or for those familiar, a Patchwork box.

I love seeing all the historical figures brought together in this tug-of-war game that is very easy to get into. The rulebook and the text on the cards are well done, and there’s even a lot of supplemental information about the scandal in the back of the rulebook.

And if you’re interested in more of the Watergate scandal, I’d highly recommend watching “All The President’s Men,” a movie about the two journalists investigating the Watergate scandal, whose reporting helped bring down Nixon’s presidency.

And that’s Watergate! This is Meeple Lady for the Five By. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as meeplelady, or on my website, boardgamemeeplelady.com. Thanks for listening. Bye!

Thanks Capstone Games for sending me a copy of this game!