Civitas, Uno with governments

As a kid I hated Uno.  It was the game that went on forever, and I swear my brother took perverse delight in playing the Draw 4 card on me.  I have very distinct memories of playing Uno sitting in the dentist’s office waiting my turn, and ending in shouting.  Why do I bring this story up?

Because Civitas takes the arguments out of Uno, and makes it fun.  And while you’re having fun you’re also learning about different government types.  It’s a brilliant bit of gameschooling.

What is Civitas you ask?

I’m glad you asked that.  Civitas is a card game to learn different government styles.  In Civitas, instead of playing different colors, you play different government styles.  It’s hilarious, and I never get a draw 4 card.

Or if I do, it’s much more fun than actually drawing 4.

Civitas works just like Uno, only you are playing governments

There are 8 different government decks you can play with: democracy, monarchy, communism, theocracy, plutocracy, military, republic, and anarchy.  Each government style plays slightly differently, and they all interact differently.

• As you start learning, I would recommend only playing with 4 styles: communism, theocracy, republic, and anarchy (I think the rules have slightly different suggestions for what to start with, but these are my favorites).
• Democracy is great if you have a large crowd to play (and this game can play up to 12!!! Perfect party game OR co-op game).
• As you are more familiar with the game slowly add in one or two new decks each time you play.
• The less decks you have in the game, the shorter the game time.  This is part of why we enjoy four decks because while more decks adds to the challenge, it also makes the game longer.  Short rounds make for more rounds of the game.

How is Civitas similar and different to Uno?

Just like in Uno, you are supposed to follow suit, so if it’s a yellow Monarchy card right now, you play a yellow Monarchy card, and just like with Uno you can play a matching number for a different government style.  That’s exactly the same.

The various special cards are also the same, though under different names.

• Repeal- Reverse turn order
• Government change is similar to the Wild card in Uno, the big difference being, some change to a specific government type, others let you choose, and some are limited to being used during a specific government type
• Tax- Draw two
• Red Tape- lose a turn (this one cracks me up for the title)
• Lawsuit- two players exchange cards

Now here is where it is different, and what in my opinion makes this game so fun.

All of these cards are enacted based on the current government type.

Each government type has its own ways of interpreting cards.  The example up above is monarchy, and the king or queen gets to decide if all laws happen, unless the monarch is locked in a tower, which happens.  My personal favorite is theocracy, and the chief priest consults the sacred books (or whatever hilarious method of determining you choose, my high priest consults sacred chickens and based on what the chickens eat is what happens), also known as drawing a random card to see if the law happens.

In addition to acting out the laws, these leadership cards have the additional benefit of subtracting from your point total at the end of the game, so it is to your benefit to have as many leadership cards as you can gather (inactive governments are turned face down, these are eagerly fought over).

You have no idea how incredibly cool it is to have my name listed in-game instructions.

Picking up your own copy of Civitas

It’s for sale over on the Bright Ideas Press website for $24.95, I’ve got a few friends to whom I’ll be giving copies to.  I’ve been playing this with almost every homeschool family I’ve had over to our house, and everyone has been clamoring for it to be released for the past year, and it is now.