In this fourth InsideGMT article about Prime Minister, we’ll take a look at the game’s thematic side: the people, bills, and events that bring Victorian Britain back to life.

Queen Victoria and the ten historical Prime Ministers who served during her reign headline the game, but there are another 34 peripheral characters in the game’s “Supporter” deck. Supporters embody historical figures drawn from Britain’s Victorian elite, including other members of the royal family, peers of the realm, members of Parliament, intellectuals, and celebrities. You can see three examples here; other famous names include Charles Dickens, the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, John Stuart Mill, and Charles Darwin. Supporter cards are illustrated with authentic paintings, photographs, or drawings from the period.

Players can draw Supporters in a number of ways, but the most common way is to spend an action cube on a “Hobnob” action, meaning that you’re taking time out of your schedule to mingle in one of Parliament’s lobbies, a London drawing room, or perhaps a reception at the Palace. Supporters are drawn at random, so you never know who you might meet. Each one presents you with two choices featuring various effects, sometimes involving a tradeoff: for example, Mary Shelley can quickly stir up support for your party among free-thinking liberals (↑↑L), but her shocking personal life makes the Victorian middle class recoil (↓M). The thematic nature of your Supporter’s action is left to your imagination; he or she might, for instance, publish something helpful to your party, start a whisper campaign against your rival, speak up for you in the House of Lords, or appear with you at a public ceremony.

All bills in the game are based on actual bills introduced in Parliament during the Victorian era. Most of the wording in the headings and subtitles comes from the original bills, with some editing for length and clarity. Peculiarities in subject matter and language reflect the period. Thus, the Vagrancy Act’s colorful references to “idle persons, rogues, and vagabonds” come from the original legislation.

In real life, acts passed by Parliament are cited by title and year, to distinguish multiple acts passed under the same name in different years. There have been many “Vagrancy Acts,” including some before and after the Victorian period. In Prime Minister, years are stripped out of bill titles, in recognition of the open-ended way bills are used in the game: bill decks are randomly shuffled, and bills can be drawn and passed in any order. In this way, the game’s bills are somewhat abstract–the subject matter is clear and historically relevant, but the exact terms are left unstated. 

Bills come in three decks: Cross-Party Bills, Liberal Bills, and Conservative Bills. Bills are assigned to certain decks based on their subject matter, not necessarily on the party that passed the bill in real life. The Importation Act, which repealed tariffs on imported grain in an effort to lower food prices, is generally accepted as progressive and redistributive in its nature. This is why it’s assigned to the Liberal Bills deck, notwithstanding the historical fact it was passed under a Tory Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, who relied on the support of liberals to counter opposition from farmers and landowners within his own party.

Bills range from humdrum topics like the Burial Act to more momentous and controversial legislation, like the Government of Ireland Act granting home rule to Ireland, which the real-life W.E. Gladstone tried and failed to pass. The effects of passed bills focus on the political angle: mostly how they shift support for your party in the electorate, and sometimes how they affect your favor at court, your standing in Parliament, or the acquisition of Supporters. The victory points reflect your progress in passing legislation. Cross-Party bills tend to be more useful for earning popular support, whereas party bills tend to be divisive but are rich in victory points. The overall value of a bill is relative to the difficulty of passing it, an arrangement that of course has more to do with game balance than historical fact. The ambitiousness of a Prime Minister’s legislative agenda depends on the current strength of his position.

Event cards typically call on you to spend your limited supply of action cubes to deal with urgent problems. You may be faced with a tough choice if your cubes are already needed elsewhere on the board. The events are based on actual situations and crises faced by Victorian Prime Ministers, but like the bills, they’re shuffled at the start of every game and could occur in any order, so they’re treated at a somewhat abstract level with no dates. Thus, the Revolution in France event might refer to the 1848 revolution that toppled Louis Philippe, but then again it might refer to the 1870 revolution that toppled Napoleon III. The French always seem to be having revolutions, while stable Britain shelters a steady stream of French ex-monarchs. Only the illustration is a possible giveaway; sharp-eyed players might recognize this painting of the 1848 upheaval in Paris.

On their face, some events appear to be quite serious like Famine in Ireland, while others like King of Belgium Visits have a more whimsical flavor. The general difficulty of different events varies somewhat, reflecting the game’s mild “luck of the draw” element. But more importantly, the difficulty of an event depends on your position. Famine in Ireland would be harmless if your strategy doesn’t depend on Ireland, while that dinner with Her Majesty’s favorite uncle would be very pressing indeed if royal favor is the only thing keeping you in power at the moment. In responding to events, the key is to avoid upsetting your political patrons, whoever they might be.

Prime Minister doesn’t always deliver Victorian culture with a straight face. Light satire occasionally rises to the surface, as in the Suffragettes Disturb the Peace event. As you can see, ignoring rioting “suffragettes” upsets Conservatives and Liberals alike. If you’re not worried about Liberal opinion, you might try locking them up. Otherwise, the best you can do is praise motherhood, a sure vote-winner in Victorian Britain. Enfranchising women is, of course, unthinkable.  

At other times, a satirical element in a bill or event is undetectable at first glance, but reveals itself as you play the role of an ambitious politician. You might, for instance, find yourself ignoring the Famine, but spending an action cube to humor the gentry on some trivial matter, if the gentry’s support is more critical in the next election.

The Mines and Collieries Act might seem beyond reproach—who would allow 9-year-old children to toil in coal mines?–but in the Victorian era, sensible reforms aren’t taken for granted, and you might find yourself debating against it as a means of weakening the government. In this way, Prime Minister conveys its thought-provoking thematic content not only through pictures and words, but through its structure as well.

With its realistic game mechanics, historical content, authentic illustrations, and cutthroat player interactions, Prime Minister creates an immersive gameplay experience. Its standard mode offers an open-ended thematic narrative; 10 different politicians, 40 event cards, and 76 bills ensure that no two games will be the same. A dozen scenarios enhance the game’s thematic angle, featuring stories drawn from Victorian Britain, including the repeal of the Corn Laws, Gladstone’s attempt at Irish Home Rule, and the emergence of the Liberal Unionist Party.We’ll take a closer look at those scenarios in the game’s next InsideGMT article.

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Please note that none of the above card images are final art.

Previous Articles:

The Analog Computer Inside Prime Minister

Roles and Relationships in Prime Minister

Solitaire Play in Prime Minister: The “Clockwork” System