A narrative game about the first year of the Trump Era.

The election of Donald Trump is a pivotal moment in the history of America.Now, looking back on the last year, it has been a wild ride. This game allows youto replay the events from November 2016 to November 2017. You can try outdifferent events to see how different it can be. 

This game inevitable is controversial. Feelings run high on all sides. Expectgames to get heated but please end them before anyone gets hurt. My goal is topresent the scenario in as neutral a manner as I can and let the players runwith it. By playing, I hope we learn to trust dialogue, how to agree to disagree,and how to work together to tell a compelling story.

Painting the White House Red is a parody of history but it can be played forfun or as a serious simulation. It uses Matrix Game rules, a simple story tellingapproach now widely used by various militaries around the world. It is a simple,fast, low tech, low cost, easy to administer game. Perfect for almost any setting. 

Number of players: 2 to 12Playing time: 1 hourComplexity: Simple butrequires players withimagination andassertiveness

If you like Cards Against Humanity you will like this game.

PAINTING THEWHITE HOUSE RED

Painting the White House Red is a gameabout the events between November 2016and November 2017, the first year of theTrump era. It can be played as a serioussimulation, as a historical exercise to tryto understand deeper motives, as aplanning game to determine how to besthandle situations in the future or as aparody of history that verges on silly. It isall up to the players. Feelings run highabout this subject. I've tried to make thegame as neutral and non­partisan aspossible but inevitably people's feelingwill come to play. This is appropriatebecause it is in understanding feelingsthat I think we will eventually understandthis time in history. 

This is a Matrix Game. A form of storytelling rules that are now being used bymany militaries around the world. Theyare based on the idea of using words anddialogue rather than numbers andalgorithms to simulate events. MatrixGames are very good at investigatinghighly fluid, unpredictable situations.Which is to say they are perfect forexploring the first year of the Trump era.Unlike other Matrix Games, which areadversarial, this game is completelycooperative and uses few dice rolls.Instead of using partisanship as a gamemechanic, this games asks the players tolook beyond their own position and askthe question, " What is most likely tohappen next and why?"

One key idea behind Matrix Games iswhy they use the word matrix. There areno grids of information anywhere in thegame. The idea refers to how we humansunderstand the world. Each of use has apre­existed body of knowledge that weuse to interpret everything. Matrix Gamestap in to this matrix by using game

materials. The name of the game, thesubject matter, the opening problem, thecast of characters, locations and potentialevents cue the players to form a mentalimage. The game builds on and expandsthat image. The game is all aboutimagination as player explore differentpossibilities. If a record is kept of gamesthey will form a body of data that can befurther analyzed for insights. So bytalking, the players are making theirinternal matrices visible.

If played as a parody the game is funbut unrealistic. In the past I would havesaid that serious players need to avoidextreme actions but this last year hasbeen one of extremes. It may be that ourideas of what is unrealistic need tochange. 

The game uses a cast of charactersdrawn from the news. In 2017 thesepeople are fresh in our minds but in thefuture many of these people will fade intooblivion so a short description of whothey are and what they represent isincluded. These are my impressions soreaders will certainly see my biases in thetext. For that I apologize, people of adifferent bent might use differentlanguage but I will try to be as non­partisan as I can.

A game by Chris Engle

Hamsterpress@gmail.com

7251 West State Road 46

Ellettsville, Indiana 47429

Character descriptionsThe cards in the deck explained.

The Family

Donald Trump: 45th President.Mercurial, combative, impulsive. So farthe conventional rules don't apply to him.Melania Trump: The First Lady. Foreignborn former model.Ivanka Trump: The President's oldestdaughter. Trusted advisor.Jared Kushner: Ivanka's husband, givenmany responsibilities.Donald Trump Jr.: The President's oldestson. Now running Trump businesses.Eric Trump: The President's next son.Also in his father's business.

The Administration

Mike Pence: Vice President. Religiousconservative.Steve Bannon: White House advisor,former Breitbart executive. Champion ofthe Alt Right.Reince Priebus: First chief of staff.Establishment Republican.John Kelly: Second chief of staff. Formergeneral. Establishment Republican.Mad Dog Mattis: Secretary of Defence.Former Marine general. EstablishmentRepublican.Rex Tillerson: Secretary of State. Formeroil executive. Establishment Republican.Past business dealings in Russia. Michael Flynn: First National SecurityAdvisor. Former general. Has unfortunateconnections with Russia and Turkey.HR McMasters: Second National SecurityAdvisor. Active duty general.Establishment Republican.Jeff Sessions: Attorney General. Pasthistory of racial difficulties. PossibleRussian troubles. Tea Party darling.

Sean Spicer: First Press Secretary.Pugnacious, defensive.Kelly Ann Conway: White House staffer.Dissembles with a smile.Sarah Sanders­Huckabee: Second PressSecretary. Guileless.Sebastian Gorka: White House staffer.Bannon supporter.Anthony Scaramucci: The Mooch. Officeseeker, brief office holder. Very colorful.

The Investigators

James Comey: First director of the FBI.May be investigating Trump over Russia.Robert Mueller: Special Prosecutorappointed after Comey fired. Former FBIdirector.

The rest of the Government

The Senate: Represented by MitchMcConnell, Republican Majority Leader.The Senate Republicans are dividedbetween Tea Party conservatives whoshun compromise and EstablishmentRepublicans. Democrats in the minority.The House: Represented by Paul Ryan,Speaker of the House. The House ofRepresentatives also has a Republicanmajority that is divided. Supreme Court Justices: Represented byChief Justice John Roberts. The courthas a conservative majority especiallyafter Justice Gorsuch was confirmed inApril.

Media and News Makers

Mainstream Media: Represented by JakeTapper. The President calls them fakenews. They have a hard time dealing thethe President's social media posting,rapid action, and frequent untruths.Megyn Kelly: Former FOX News host whohas a history of conflict with thePresident.

Fox News: Represented by TuckerCarlson, important news host. Strongsupporter of conservative causes. Claimto be fair and balanced.The Koch Brothers: Oil billionaires whomanically support conservative cause.Possibly the moving force behind the TeaParty and Libertarian causes in general. Milo Yiannopoulos: Breitbart news editor.Provocateur, helped name the Alt Right. SNL: Represented by Alec Baldwin playingthe President. Many other comedians andLate Night Show hosts also make haywith every move of the President.Liberal Social Media: Represented byRobert Reich. Many people comment onall of the President's actions.

The Democrats

Barak Obama: The 44th President. Histerm ends in January so he is stillpresident for the first three months of thesimulation.Joe Biden: Vice President until January2017. Sharp sense of humor.Hillary Clinton: The losing presidentialcandidate in 2016. Former First Lady,Senator , and Secretary of State.Bernie Sanders: Far left Senator, formerpresidential candidate. Champion ofprogressive populism.

The Protestors

Black Lives Matter: Protest movementabout police abuse of African Americans.Pussy Hats: Women's protest movement.Alt Right: Right wing protest movement.Possibly supports authoritarian whitenationalism.

The Authorities

Riot Police: Police forces in the USA aredecentralized. They exist in part to dealwith riots. The Military: Federal force to protect thecountry from foreign enemies.

The rest of the World

Russia: Represented by Vladimir Putin.May have interfered with the 2016election.Korea: Represented by Kim Jong­Un.Notoriously unpredictable. Threatensnuclear war for unknown reasons.Europe: Represented by Angela Merkel,Chancellor of Germany. Heralded as theleader of the Free World by some. Facinga refugee crisis.ISIS: Islamic terrorist organization in Iraqand Syria. Sponsors attacks around theglobe. Follow Salafi theology, and extremebranch of Sunni Islam.Iran: Represented by Hassan Rouhani,President of Iran. Have a nuclear treatybut could become a nuclear power. Maysupport Shiite terror groups around theMiddle East

Locations

The White House: The office of thePresident.The Capital: The seat of Congress.The Courts: The highest court of theland.The Pentagon: The center of militaryplanning.A Political Rally: Where ever the presidentis campaigning.Mar a Largo Golf Resort: Trump ownedgolf resort in Florida.Bedminster Golf Resort: Trump ownedgolf resort in New Jersey.

Things

The Constitution: The basic document ofthe US government.Hurricanes: The Hurricane season runsfrom July to November. They can be verydestructive from the Gulf Coast to NewEngland. Nuclear War: The potential for nuclearwar. 

HOW TO RUN A GAME

All that you need to run this game is, adeck of character/location/event cards, aposter of the White House or some otherappropriate poster, two six­sided dice, anhour to play, and two to twelve players.The person who brings the game is thegame host. 

The host lays out the poster and cards,placing the location cards on the posterand the characters and events on theside. They then explain the time andplace the game is set in and pick aproblem for the players to explore. Thegame ends when the problem is resolved.Once the players know what the game isabout they get to place the characters onthe poster next to the locations theywould be at. This is up to the players andthey may place characters and where.They may also place character off theboard away from locations which meansthey are somewhere else, to bedetermined by the story. 

In the future people will not know howto introduce this year. For them Irecommend the following introduction."Donald Trump is an important figure inhistory. He is the president who broke allthe rules. His supporters love him andbelieve that he "Will make America greatagain." His opponents hate him. Theythink he is unstable and unfit for office.No matter what your opinion he willchange America. Whether it is for thebetter or for the worse is for you todecide. You will make up what happensas the game is played. At the start of thegame the USA is the biggest world powerbut there are clouds on the horizon.China is poised to take a new place in theworld, Russia is endeavor in to regain itsold position, Iran remains a potentialnuclear nation and North Korea stands asan established nuclear threat. ObamaCare, immigration, tax reform and the

promise of a beautiful wall on theMexican border stand out as potentialdomestic issues. And questions ofRussian interference in the 2016 electionand whether the Trump campaigncolluded with them are an open woundthroughout the year. The game can startat any point in the year. With that, it istime to play."

The host picks a problem for theplayers to solve. The problem can beabout anything but here are a fewsuggestions. How does President Trumpmake America great again? How does thegovernment reform health care? Howdoes President Trump's legendaryunpredictability affect the world? Howdoes the Russian investigation unfold?How does President Trump face crisis?What is President Trump's next Tweetand how does the White House staff copewith it? 

The host then explains how to play thegame. "This is a cooperative narrativegame. The players work together to createa compelling story that answers theopening question. There is no order ofplay. Players make things happen as thespirit moves them. If you have an idea,don't wait to be invited, just jump in andsay it. As you speak you may movecharacters around, do short role plays,say all that happens or leave thingsunsaid, and even make sound effects ifyou like. Whatever you say happens. Nodice roll needed."

The host then explains the rest of therules. "Other players may jump in andadd to, alter, or completely change whatthe last player said. This over writes theprevious statement, no dice roll needed.The previous player may object and overwrite the over write. This does notbecome an endless loop because eachplayer may ask a player to roll for theiraction. The player needs to roll seven orbetter on two six­sided dice to succeed.

Since each player may call for a roll, theplayer may need to pass many rolls. If anaction succeeds, it happens and cannotbe over written. If it fails it does nothappen and can NEVER happen in thisgame."

Those are all the rules but the hostmay want to add the following. "If youhave an idea say it but if you don't havean idea, don't think you have to saysomething. When we don't talk we are theaudience of the story which is an otherway to enjoy the game. You may jump inwhenever you feel like it."

The host may break the ice by goingaround the table and asking each playerto make up something that happens.After that, sit back and let the playerstake charge. If they fall into an awkwardsilence the host can remind them "Howdo you end an awkward silence? Saysomething." For the most part though,Matrix Games like this run themselves.The host just watches and encourages.When the time runs out the game ends.Hopefully to be followed by a discussionabout what happened and what waslearned. 

And that is it. Matrix Games like thisare a low tech, low prep, inexpensivealternative to high tech, expensivesimulations. They are also fun. Enjoy.