The Game of Politics: American Government Simulations

The Game of Politics makes American Government come alive, by placing each participant into a role within the national government. Participants face a great variety of issues from domestic to international, and an assortment of unpredictable problems. Participants begin to understand the political system from an insider perspective.

Image with government building featuring title reading The Game of Politics.

The Game of Politics: American Government Simulations

Donald R. Jansiewicz

This non-traditional work helps students in the American Government course and other venues to understand the political system from an insider’s perspective, as well as from a human perspective. Participants will see legislative, executive and judicial decision-making take place on routine matters, and also see how our complex political environment places other issues on the public policy agenda. Although the characters and situations are fictional, the simulation is designed to describe real patterns within the American political process.

Donald R. Jansiewicz | CC BY NC SA 4.0 license – Allows redistribution, revisions and additions but forbids commercial use.

Published: November 8, 2023

Over 30 originally designed simulations and games, many with single class and multi-class options.

Ready to Go | Instructor and Participants Manual, Simulation Prompts, and Supplemental Materials included

The Game of Politics: American Government Simulations (2022-2023)

How to Use

The Game of Politics is divided into two different versions. The complete version or macro simulation includes all three branches of government while the five micro simulations divide up the larger simulation into smaller slices of the political system—legislative, executive, judicial and budgetary. There is an extra supplemental "Terra Nova" simulation as well. Please navigate this drop down chart to access, download, and use The Game of Politics.

The Coordinator’s Manual provides complete simulation instructions for instructors. The Participants Manuel provides complete information to any student who is asked to engage with the simulations. Please direct all questions about the simulation to Donald R. Jansiewicz, at janstratd@gmail.com.

Learning Objectives

The Game of Politics has been designed to help participants come to grips with five important ways of looking at the American national political process. The instructional objectives for both the macro and micro simulations are as follows:

Identify the formal and informal players that converge on various issues.

At the conclusion of the simulation, participants should be able to list all of the major issues that emerged during the course of the game. In addition, they should be able to categorize the formal (governmental officials) and informal (or non-governmental) players who were involved in each of these issues.

Describe the material and symbolic stakes that motivate players.

Participants should be able to report on, or at least speculate about, the motivations of the formal and informal players. Participants should be able to distinguish between the material (tangible) goals that players were trying to achieve and the symbolic (emotional) objectives that were at stake. Participants will also be able to note those situations in which the stakes were mixed or a combination of the material and the symbolic.

Assess the impact of rules on the decision-making process.

Participants ought to be able to look back at these various issues in the simulation and analyze how the rules of federalism, separation of powers, as well as checks and balances might have had an impact on the final results. They should be able to note how the rules within our individual political institutions affected results. Did the rules slow down the political process? Did the rules require that multiple branches of government be involved in making decisions?

Note the strategies that were employed by various players.

In examining the various issues, participants should also be able to construct an inventory of the types and variations of political strategies that were employed by different participants. To what extent were various strategies used in shaping and making public policy? To what extent were various strategies employed for non-policy purposes?

Analyze the results of the political process.

At the conclusion of the simulation, participants should be able to compare the number of issues that emerged during the simulation with the actual number of policy decisions that were made. They should be able to describe these policy decisions and determine whether these decisions were examples of laws, budgets, orders or opinions. Moreover, participants should be able to assess who gained and lost as a result of these decisions or non-decisions. They should also be able to analyze each decision in terms of the distribution of costs and benefits. Did a particular decision concentrate the costs on a relatively small part of the population, or did the decision distribute the costs widely throughout the population? Did this decision concentrate the benefits in the hands of a few, or were the benefits distributed widely?

Instructor and Student Manuals

Macro (multi-day)

Story Lines A: Instructors Overview
1. Small Class Size (less than 30)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12
2. Medium Class Size (31-45)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12
3. Large Class Size (45+)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12
Story Lines B: Instructors Overview B
1. Small Class Size (less than 30)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12
2. Medium Class Size (31-45)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12
3. Large Class Size (45+)
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
  10. Session 10
  11. Session 11
  12. Session 12

Micro (single class alternatives)

Micro Story Lines A: Instructor's Planner
1. Bill to Law
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
2. Courts
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
3. Presidency
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
Micro Story Lines B: Instructor's Planner
1. Bill to Law
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
2. Courts
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9
3. Presidency
  1. Session 1
  2. Session 2
  3. Session 3
  4. Session 4
  5. Session 5
  6. Session 6
  7. Session 7
  8. Session 8
  9. Session 9

Extra: Terra Nova