I was 15 and in the middle of junior high when the titular People Power EDSA revolution took place. As such, the events surrounding People Power stand out as a watershed historical moment during my youth. Interestingly enough, much of the same factions are still involved in Philippine politics, 37 years hence, and the son of then President Ferdinand Marcos, Bongbong, is once again head of state; and is mainly opposed by leftists and factions associating themselves with Cory and Benigno Aquino. Old wounds and issues were once again headlined during the elections and the different sides clashed in social media, and sometimes in real life.

Thus the introduction of the game People Power comes at a precarious time. Many reference the events and personalities of that titular era, and political lines are drawn (You can check my full review of People Power here). I found it interesting to let different types of Filipinos try out the game. From casual gamers, to GMT fans; from people who lived thru the events to millennials who know little about Imelda Marcos; to people with different political leanings and those who are apolitical themselves. Below are excepts from my game sessions with these Filipinos and their reactions and comments on People Power the game.

The Wargamer

Marlon is a businessman in his thirties who is a fan of wargames, heavier euros, and GMT. His favorite games are Here I Stand and Virgin Queen, which he plays with his wife and older kids most of the time. He is also an avid COIN fan and picks Falling Sky and Fire in the Lake as his favorites in the series.

Me and Marlon played using the bot as the Government faction which soundly beat us, mostly by accumulating Patronage. Even as a COIN veteran, he found the mechanics and strategies in People Power multilayered. According to him, many actions in People Power are powerful, not because of what they give you, but because they block the other players from doing certain things – and these interactions are not as readily apparent on your first playthroughs. Also, the move of LimOp to Eligible, Personalities cards and Newmakers clearly set the game apart from the other COIN games he has tried.

The Game Designers

I played with Ron and Thomas, both local game designers who focus more on fast playing, abstract games. Ron is in his forties and, just like me, went through the events of People Power in his childhood. Thomas is younger, but is familiar with the political dynamic of the eighties (the time frame of People Power).

Both designers thought the connection of theme and gameplay was superb. The mechanics were well implemented, giving players a good set of decisions and options each turn. They especially liked the use of the next turn Eligibile/Ineligible rules which gave players the option of executing powerful events or actions with the caveat of forfeiting your turn next round.

They did comment however that they found the documents to be user unfriendly and would do well to have more iconography in the player aid and the rulebook. All in all, however, they thought the game was excellent, and look forward to playing it again.

I also had a chance to play with Mykey, another game designer who has stronger political leanings. Mykey decided to play the Reformers. I told him that playing the insurgent factions would be more difficult for a newer player and that he should play the Government faction, since its straight forward gameplay is more newbie friendly. He insisted on playing the Reformers still since I think that faction coincided with his politics more. As expected, his faction took a beating in the early rounds and he was on the verge of quitting. I convinced him to continue on, if just to get a better feel of the game. Thankfully, he didn’t quit and we continued playing, and he was able to recover although not enough to secure a win. I think the experience though taught him an interesting lesson in non linear game design – you don’t necessarily need catch up mechanisms (as is usually found in eurogames) in certain games- just a bit of smart play, luck and the balls to trudge on despite the odds.

He says the game reminds him of Root and I told him that Root drew inspiration from the COIN series hence the similarity.

Mykey liked the game’s seemingly more neutral take on the historical event. He liked how the event cards basically presented events from different faction perspectives and how this was implemented in game. Mykey was interested to let his other friends and relatives from differing political views try the game, as he felt it was apolitical enough for them to enjoy playing it.

The Casual Gamer Lawyer

Marie is a managing partner in her law firm and I have played simpler games with her such as Five Tribes and Splendor, so it was interesting to see how she would find the complexity level of a COIN game. Surprisingly, she took the ruleset of People Power quite well. She says that it looks intimidating and complex at first but once you play a few rounds, you understand the flow of the game quite well. But she did add that understanding the game rules and playing the game well are two different things, a comment similar to Marlon’s observation. Marie also liked the layout of the rulebook. Although it was wordy, she said, wording was quite precise, with little left to personal interpretation – much like a legal document.

She also has a sister who is a teacher. She says that People Power could make for an interesting teaching tool. We discussed this a bit and came to the hypothesis that you don’t need to play the whole game for it to be a teaching aid and that playing specific portions of the game and dissecting its rules application to historical and political events could make for some interesting term papers. Unfortunately, we were unable to invite her sister to play due to schedule conflicts, so this hypothesis is yet to be tested.

The Loyalist Engineer

Vince is an engineer and real estate broker and has been a staunch Marcos loyalist since the eighties. He is also my cousin and we have been playing games together with his son for many years now. He is more of a casual gamer and has never tried anything as heavy as a COIN game. So, I was very interested to see how he would react to a play session of People Power.

We took the teach and pace of play more slowly with Vince to make sure he wouldn’t get too lost in the minutiae of rules. Also, we played without Newmakers and Personalities to ease him into the system. After a few turns of play, he was fairly comfortable with game mechanics, with a little help from myself. And he actually won, and by a wide margin.

After the game, I asked him if he felt that the game was biased towards the Government faction and he said he didn’t feel that way and looked forward to having his other loyalist friends try it out.

He said that he liked the layout of the map board and liked how the pieces and counters gave the game a clean, minimalistic aesthetic. Vince says, it was also interesting reading through the different events and it felt like reading through newspapers of the time. He would gladly play it again.

The Apolitical Artist

Mico is a 20 year old aspiring artist and the son of Vince. He is quite apolitical. He is an avid gamer who enjoys both video and boardgames. He counts Tyrants of the Underdark as his favorite boardgame. He has played a few wargames with me so I knew he would be up to learning and playing People Power.

I have played People Power twice with Mico and he enjoys playing the game. He says, however, that he is not familiar with the events nor personalities in game. So thematically, the theme is obscure. But he enjoys playing the game cause there is a lot of “juicy interactions” within the system. He says it’s an excellent game, whether or not the theme appeals to you; and is one of the best three player game experiences he’s had.

A Filipino Perspective

It is noteworthy that everyone mentioned above who tried People Power enjoyed the experience. Of course, those who I’ve played with have been exposed to modern boardgaming in one form or another and I have not introduced the game to someone not into boardgaming yet. It seems that anybody interested to learn the game enjoyed the experience. The shared historicity probably has a lot to do with this. But I also think that Kenneth Tee, the designer, was able to distill complex systems into a relatively easy and fast playing design.

I am interested in exploring the game as a teaching tool, and maybe next time I can get some teachers and historians to play the game.

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This article was written by Robert Baynosa, a Filipino who lived through the events that are covered in People Power. If you would like to read his review of the game on UnGeek, you can find that here.