Review Fix Exclusive: Inside War for the White House

Review Fix chats with John T. Douglas, Co-founder & CEO of GPAC, who discusses “War for the White House” and lets us know what makes this game a must-play, especially during election season.

For more information on the game, click here. 

Review Fix: What is WAR for the White House?

John T. Douglas: WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE is the first-of-its-kind political warfare simulator that takes the Presidential election off the campaign trail and onto the battlefield, turns hot-button social & political issues into weapons of mass destruction.

Those issues include:

➢    WAR ON FAMILY VALUES
➢    WAR ON EDUCATION
➢    WAR ON TERROR
➢    CLASS WARFARE
➢    WAR ON WOMEN
➢    THE RACE CARD
➢    POLITICAL JUJITSU
➢    BOOTS ON THE GROUND
➢    CARPET BOMBING
➢    SUPER PAC
➢    ADMAGEDDON
➢    FORTUNES OF WAR
➢    MOUTH-TO-MOUTH COMBAT

WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE is a fresh, innovative, and challenging variation on the classic card game “WAR”, a fast-paced, fun, and unpredictable gaming experience:

➢    Daringly, innovative concept of waging political warfare for the White House.
➢    Edgy, sarcastic, lampoon of US Presidential campaign.
➢    Fun, fast-paced party game so simple, even a politician can play it.
➢    So exhilarating, you’ll want to quit your day job to become a career politician.

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Douglas: Creating a politically themed game that was fun, humorous, and educational proved challenging. Political games are by their very nature convoluted, predictable, and tedious, (much like politicians). We wanted to create a politically themed game that would lampoon the political process, be fun to play, appeal to players of all ages, ideologies, and political preferences, and provide the player with meaningful insight about the electoral process.  We briefly considered designing a WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE board game but abandoned that format in favor of a card game that would be mobile (fit in your pocket), easy to learn, fun to play, thought provoking (stimulate vigorous debate and discussions among players), and capable of supporting several formats (WAR & POKER).

Developing weapons for the game was a simple task as politicians routinely assign military terms to issues during political campaigns. We decided to convert those terms into an arsenal used to conduct political warfare.

However, incorporating that arsenal into the game of WAR was another matter. Finding the right balance between the political weapons of war and a stimulating yet unpredictable path to victory required extensive testing, refinement, and adaptation.

Once a viable paradigm for the game had been created, developing compatible artwork that conveyed the look and feel of the game required an even greater effort.  We tried a variety of approaches ultimately going with images of the nation’s capital and the White House under siege, ravaged by war, and in ruins, symbolic of the seemingly endless conflict raging within our political system.

Review Fix: This game would be great on the Nintendo 3DS. Any plans on a port?

Douglas: WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE was recently converted into a digital format via Tabletopia which can be accessed at https://beta.tabletopia.com/playground/play/war-for-the-white-house-tyqtn0. We are currently in discussions with a number of independent developers about ways we could bring the WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE concept and brand to a number of mobile gaming devices.