Political Science
PRIMITIVE POLITICS
Equipment. The equipment required for this game is money (or its functional equivalent), a table and a "trough." Later on some envelopes may be required. All equipment will supplied by the "Game Overall Director" (GOD) who in this instance will be played by the instructor.
Basic Rules.
1. Each player is given a quantity of money (or its functional equivalent).
2. GOD places the trough on the table.
3. A round begins as each player contributes their "dues," in this instance $5 to 10 (depending on God's whim) which is placed in the trough.
4. GOD then matches the dues of the entire class by placing an equivalent amount in the trough.
5. GOD then auctions the contents of the trough to the players. The minimum bid is $20. A player bids by placing his money on the table. To raise the previous bid, the additional cash corresponding to the increased bid must be placed on the table.
6. The auction ends when no further bid has been made after GOD has asked three times for one.
7. GOD gives the entire contents of the TROUGH to the highest bidder. GOD keeps all of the bids. ONCE MONEY IS BID, IT IS FORFEITED TO GOD, WHETHER OR NOT IT RESULTS IN A SUCCESSFUL BID.
8. While players may do whatever deals they like with each other, GOD will only accept bids from, and will only give the contents of the trough to, a single player.
9. Round 2 begins as specified in Rule 3 and culminates with the conclusion of another auction.
10. In later rounds in the game, the bidding process may be modified to permit only one, secret, (in an envelope) bid per player, with no opportunity to "raise."
11. Another variation (to be added for later rounds) may be to have GOD's contribution "go private." That is, instead of GOD matching the dues, he will arbitrarily vary the amount of his contribution and "veil" the contents of the trough.
12. If players cannot pay there dues (they run out of money) then they are eliminated from the game.
13. The person with the most money when GOD gets bored (and he will give 5 minutes notice that he is growing weary) wins. Second place is decided by who has the next greatest amount, third the next, etc.
14. First place gets 7 class participation points; second place gets 5; third gets 3.
15. Frequently the game ends prematurely because there is only one person left with any money. If that is the case, then only that person will receive class participation points. Points will not be awarded in reverse order of running out of money. You must have money (or its functional equivalent) to play and you must have money to place.
16. The laws and rules of the United States, state of Oregon and Southern Oregon University do apply and may be enforced by GOD. Or they may not.
