Note: President Forever 2016 is now President Infinity.
President Forever 2016 has been released! Play the definitive 2016 political game from the series that “will keep political wonks glued to their PC screens.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
It’s 2016. The fate of the nation is now in your hands with the most sophisticated political game yet! President Forever 2016.
President Forever 2016 is the most in-depth, intense political election game ever made. Using realistic electorate modeling techniques, an unprecedented number of options, and detailed candidates, this is big time!
Good campaigning, President-to-Be!
System requirements: President Forever 2016 runs on Windows xp, Vista, 7, or 8, and Mac OS X 10.8.5 and up.
Internet connection required to download and for one-time activation.
- Completely new game engine.
- Includes 2016, 2012, 2008, 1968, and 1912 – 2016 has 34 candidates to choose from, and the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Green parties.
- Fully featured Candidate Editor – modify the candidates, add new ones, or even insert yourself and run for President!
- A Campaign Editor – modify or add endorsers, surrogates, parties, and more! The control is in your hands.
- Surrogates, who barnstorm, fundraise, or spin for you – tell them where to go and what to do. Will Christie provide more muscle than Ryan? O’Malley more than Cuomo?
- Candidate strengths – each candidate has different strengths in Leadership, Experience, Integrity, Charisma, and more.
- New campaign strengths. All the new campaign strength attributes affect the capabilities of your campaign in different ways, and mimic the strengths of real life campaigns. Which new campaign strength should you upgrade next – Command Strength, Fundraising Strength, Spin Strength, or something else?
- Build up state-by-state command-and-control, and synergize it with your Footsoldiers to swamp your opponents’ Get Out the Vote operations in swing states!
- Barnstorming, give speeches, fundraise to boost your campaign finances, and much more – you decide. Or perhaps it’s time to hold massive rallies to accommodate the thronging crowds and boost your reach?
- Work to get on primary ballots if you’re not. Stymied by primary ballot rules which keep your candidate off the ballot in Virginia? Now you can change that.
- Which primaries are coming onto the radar, and which swing states look the most appealing to target? See political data at a glance and and arrange states at a click with the new strategy screen.
- Control over debates. Call out specific opponents in debates to stop their momentum, or boast about your own achievements.
- Craft ads to target specific regions, and gain extra bonuses when you run them.
- A universe of endorsers, national and state-by-state. Will that last minute endorsement in Iowa launch a wave of momentum?
- Turn endorsers into surrogates! They will then campaign for you after endorsing.
- You have 270+ Electoral Votes in your column for now, great – but how deep is your support? Now you can see at a glance with new electoral vote display.
- Secured your party’s nomination? Pivot to the general election, including choosing your Veep running mate at any point up until the convention.
- and much more included in the latest release, and coming.
More Info …
About the Game
President Forever 2016 is a sophisticated strategy simulation that delivers both gameplay and realism. President Forever 2016 includes both the general election and primaries, and comes with 2016, 2012, 2008, 1968, and 1912. It is the sequel to President Forever 2008, featuring a completely rebuilt game engine from the 2008 version.
The goal is simple: win enough Electoral College votes to win the election. You are responsible for all aspects of your candidate’s election strategy: planning and buying advertising, conducting fundraising, giving speeches, recruiting high-profile and grassroots supporters and spinning news.
May I say how excellent this simulation seems to me to be. As a Brit, I have enjoyed playing it and learnt a great deal already about political processes in general and the American process in particular. I have also learnt where all the 50 states are, and something about the politics of each! And then there are glorious obscurities like the fact that those who live in the overseas areas like Puerto Rico can vote in the primaries but not in the general election (except as absentee voters). – R. Court, Derbyshire, England
Candidates
Players select their party, candidate, and whether to start in the general election or the primaries. Candidates have varying levels of experience, issue familiarity and other attributes, which affect how they perform and how voters perceive them. They also have campaign attributes, such as spin strength, ads strength, ground strength, and more. In addition, they have full platforms, which affect voter support and can be changed in response to events.
First of all I want to say thank you for this incredible game and all of the amazing games you have created! I cannot say enough good things about President Infinity. I have spent countless hours planning, scheming, deliberating and working to get several different people into the White House and it just continues to be an outstandingly enjoyable experience. – Jason Hoeflich
States
The U.S.A. is a big country, and a successful candidate must focus limited resources. Choose which states you will target, and decide how much of your candidate’s resources to expend pursuing each one. Primaries and caucuses for each state are included as candidates from each party battle to win their nomination. Choose where to barnstorm and hold rallies, give policy speeches, and raise funds.
Support & Momentum
Players can recruit new foot soldiers, endorsers, and big-name surrogates. Both can help spread your campaign message and drum up popular support. Foot soldiers work in their own states and can help get out the vote, while surrogates can have specific state bonuses or crusade around the country. Special interest groups and news media can provide momentum-boosting endorsements – but gaining them may cost scarce political capital. The closer they are to your candidate on an issue, the more likely they are to provide an endorsement.
Primaries
In addition to the general election, President Forever 2016 includes the option to start in the primaries, running against all the major Republican or Democratic candidates, as well as the hypothetical ones.
What If’s
Want to see how the 2012 primaries would have turned out if Newt Gingrich weren’t in them? Curious if Chris Christie could join the Republican fray and win? Now you can experiment and see. Not only can you try out different combinations of candidates in in any of the campaigns, you can modify candidates or even add your own new candidates.
Campaigns
President Forever 2016 comes with the 2016, 2012, 2008, 1968, and 1912 campaigns.
Your Tools
Theme & Platform
Establish and tweak your candidate’s key theme and beliefs on core issues. Your candidate can change the party’s platform, which will attract some voters while alienating others. While moving to the center can help attract voters, there is also a chance existing supporters will leave after a dramatic policy shift.
Polling
Tracking polls allow you to gauge public support and opinion on campaign issues. Positive poll numbers can help gain much-needed momentum and sway undecided voters. You can also gain insights into the electorate through polling, and use them to hone your ads or speeches.
Advertising
Create ad campaigns to highlight your candidate’s campaign themes and platform. Better ads take more time and cost more money. The more they run, the more they cost. Carefully tailored advertising can build a campaign, but ineffective ads may waste valuable resources. Be careful – attack ads can tarnish opponents but can also backfire.
Media & Spin
News stories can be spun to improve your candidate’s profile, for damage control and to turn the heat up on an opponent – spin from the campaign or assign surrogates instead. From time to time, candidates are offered the chance to give interviews. These may help or hurt the campaign depending on attributes such as knowledge and charisma.
Dirty Tricks
You can dig up scandals on opponents or hire spies to infiltrate an enemy’s headquarters. Be careful! This strategy can backfire if caught.
Your Limited Resources
Money
Almost everything in an election costs money. Run out, and your campaign will grind to a halt. Increasing the time spent fundraising will divert your candidate’s time from other aspects of the campaign, but will build up the campaign war chest.
Energy
Barnstorming, giving speeches and attending fundraisers deplete energy, which can only be restored by resting away from the campaign. Getting tired can lead to embarrassing gaffes.
Command Points
Command points are the strategic resources available on a day-to-day basis. They are replenished each turn, but are limited – there are never enough for all possible courses of action your campaign may wish to pursue. Making a policy speech, holding a fundraiser, spinning news stories and recruiting foot soldiers and crusaders all deplete your candidate’s precious command points. You must ensure the maximum political value for each command point you expend.
Political Points
Candidates have a fixed number of political points, which are used to tailor a campaign to particular political interests. These help gain endorsements, which in turn build momentum.