Rumble to the White House 2008

[bigMatt]

Okay, this is a really crazy one, but I wanted to try out the RFG. With my continued interest in politics, and for want of something better to occupy my time, I decided to work up a fictional boxing universe with this year's field of Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates.

Now before I begin the narrative, a couple of disclaimers. First, the universe is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL. Don't go to Vegas and bet on the winner of the General Election or any primary based on the results posted here, and by all means, don't use the information here to advise you on which candidate you should cast your vote!

I also want to add that the ratings, etc., are entirely random. I in no way influenced the ratings system, nor did I try to emulate any real life characteristics the actual candidates portray. Consequently, guys like Ron Paul and Mike Gravel are in the thick of things just as much as a John McCain or Barack Obama. And yes, Hillary is in there too. Anathema tho the idea of a woman and man in the same ring might be to many, I couldn't leave her on the sideline and have a true representation of the field, could I?

The rules, such as they are:

- The RFG was called upon to create a total of 14 fighters in two groups - 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans - with ratings from 8-11.

- I sorted each group of fictional fighters in alpha order and renamed them according to the candidates in alpha order, thus preserving the randomness of the contest.

- I set it up for each to run 10 fights against another fictional group called "Also Rans," rated 0-1. The aging system is to kick over to Prime at 10 fights, and stay Prime for the balance of the universe's existence. I don't want one of the candidates to go Post Prime in the middle of the General Election. That just wouldn't be sporting, even if John McCain is 71 years old.

- The primaries will be run in the same order as US primaries, and delegates assigned as they are in real life. So, for instance, the Iowa rumble is worth 28 points just as the Iowa primary is worth 28 delegates. And so forth.

- The primaries will follow the same schedule as in real life, meaning that some will happen singly, while others will happen simultaneously.

- For the Republicans, each contest will be a single elimination tourney, winner take all. This emulates the winner take all primaries of the GOP.

- For the Dems, each primary will be a round robin, with each candidate fighting every other candidate one time. The top 3 will divide the 28 delegates based on the percentage of performance points they earned against the total PP's of the top 3. So, for instance, let's say that 1-2-3 are Kucinich, Gravel and Edwards in Iowa. Kucinich has 5000 PPs, Gravel 2500 and Edwards 1000. Kucinich would receive 17 of the delegates, Gravel 8 and Edwards 3. Complex - yeah, but trying to come at least somewhat close to the Dems system for apportioning delegates. I'll no doubt regret this decision within half a dozen primaries.

- Each candidate starts out with $1 million dollars. Every state win adds another $1 million to the coffers. 2nd place in either party adds $500,000 (2nd place for the GOP is whoever lost the title fight in that primary). 3rd place gets $100,000 (GOP 3rd based on performance points).

- Participating in a primary costs $250,000. To "train" for that state battle cost double. This might come into play when a candidate is running out of money and chooses to essentially "bet it all" on a specific contest.

- Candidates can choose to opt out of specific primaries, but can do this with no more than 3 consecutive contests. Once a candidate's coffers drop below $250,000, they are out of the race entirely.

- Candidates will get the assignation of Hometown Favorite in states of their current residence. Only one state per candidate tho.

- Once a candidate has earned enough delegates to obtain nomination, he (or she) becomes the party's standard bearer in the General Election.

For the GE, I'll have a series of 50 matches. I'm still fine-tuning how I'll handle these fights, but I'm thinking that smaller states will be less rounds, and overall value of each contest will be weighted accordingly.

That's all I have for now. Would love to hear some feedback. I've rolled up the candidates, but I haven't started the RtWH 2008, so any suggestions for rules tweaking would be much appreciated.

[mh2365]

My money would be on John McCain IRL ..... so I guess I will back him here also!

Is Guiliani not going to join until Florida? Whatever $$$ he brings in has to be divided up amongst all his ex-wifes.

Every now and then a candidate should just die under mysterious circumstances and Hillary would get a boost in the ratings. Obama should be average in all categories to show that he doesn't have any opinions on any subject (except change)!

LOL ... this is fun!

*****All opinions above are exaggerated in the spirit of fun with this universe .... no real political statements were made above!*****

[Romdawg88]

Easily the most unique dynasty down here ever I think. I'm looking forward to this one.

[Thunder]

This is mad . . . I love it!

[CONN CHRIS]

Only Six Republicans? Alan keyes gets shafted again!


Neat idea Matt, with your writing skills and imagination I am sure that this will be a hit.

[Romultiltus]

Great idea Matt.

The political theme remind me of an old bookshelf game (I don't remember if it was Avalon Hill or GDW or someone else) called "Campaign Trail."

It was a dice based game w/ a huge fold out map of the United States criss-crossed w/ roads linking towns and major cities. Each player started w/ 2 tokens, 1 presidential candidate and one vp candidate. Each player took turns rolling dice and marched around the country campaigning - receiving 1, 2 or 3 votes depending on the size of the city/town. All votes were tabulated on a sheet for according to what state he was in.

At the end of a predetermined time (i.e. 1/2 hour per player, 3 players = 1 1/2 hour game), the votes per state were tallied up and the player w/ the most votes were awarded the state's total number of Electoral Votes.

It was one of my favorite simple strategy games before computers.

Good luck w/ the new universe...

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Only Six Republicans? Alan keyes gets shafted again!

Was Alan Keyes a candidate? I could always roll him up. This might be his only chance ever to break single digits!

The whole idea lends itself more to a political narrative than a boxing one, so I think that will have to be how I handle it. But under the surface will be bloody brawls, head butting and hitting below the belt. Now that I think of it, that's not really much different than the political story line. Hmmm...

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

Great idea Matt.

The political theme remind me of an old bookshelf game (I don't remember if it was Avalon Hill or GDW or someone else) called "Campaign Trail."

Never played Campaign Trail, but I have a copy of 3M's Mr. President, and an old bookcase game from 1968 called "who can beat Nixon?"

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by bigMatt

Was Alan Keyes a candidate? I could always roll him up. This might be his only chance ever to break single digits!

The whole idea lends itself more to a political narrative than a boxing one, so I think that will have to be how I handle it. But under the surface will be bloody brawls, head butting and hitting below the belt. Now that I think of it, that's not really much different than the political story line. Hmmm...

He participated in one debate, got onto about 20 ballots (including Connecticut!) and raised a whopping $11,000 (give or take a few quarters).

[CONN CHRIS]

Oh, and 5 people cast what I assume to be protest votes or votes cast in a drunken stuper in my home city of Manchester for him on Super Tuesday.

I happen to know of at least one that was not drunk.

[bigMatt]

Okay, I think I'm set to start. The one thing I don't yet have is a good mechanism for determining when a candidate will double down on a state. I could just decide that for them as I go along, but those of you who have followed my uni's know that randomness is king. I don't like to intrude on my uni any more than is necessary.

Unless someone has a better suggestion, I think I'll go to the randomizer on this one. First state, Iowa, I'll give every candidate a 50% chance of training for that one. After all, it's first shot out of the box, and in real life, many candidates stake their entire success on Iowa. I'm thinking 100% the candidate doubles down in his home state. Perhaps that isn't necessarily prudent, since if you are already the favorite, why spend the extra cash? Not sure. No brainer - if a guy is down around $500,000, he doubles down on the next state offering a reasonable amount of delegates. And doubling down on big states like California and New York seems to make sense as well. I honestly don't know how well the campaign finance system will work - we're testing it as we go. I might find right in the middle that it flopped, in which case we'll need to adapt - a circumstance that would no doubt rankle any candidate who shot craps before the alteration. We'll see.

In a little while, I'll introduce the candidates. Each will have had 10 bouts, so as to give them a seeding going in. I'll give you the seeds so you know the early favorites, and those likely to head home.

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

He participated in one debate, got onto about 20 ballots (including Connecticut!) and raised a whopping $11,000 (give or take a few quarters).

He's in! Count the GOP field as 7!

[CONN CHRIS]

Timeout for a killjoy message because I unfortunately wear that hat:


To all reading and posting in this thread; please, please, please, please keep this as a-political as possible (despite the premise) and avoid fighting or using inflammatory remarks at nearly all cost. If I get a bunch of complaints about this thread and have to move it to the OT wasteland, I will be none too pleased with the parties involved.


The killjoy hat is now back in the closet - proceed with the fun.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by bigMatt

Never played Campaign Trail, but I have a copy of 3M's Mr. President, and an old bookcase game from 1968 called "who can beat Nixon?"

I've actually heard of both of them!

[mh2365]

I made sure I made fun of both the Republicans and the Dems in my post!

Anyone who takes anything said in a thread like this needs to back away from the computer, come up out of mom's basement and get a life.

Roll on Matt!

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Timeout for a killjoy message because I unfortunately wear that hat:


To all reading and posting in this thread; please, please, please, please keep this as a-political as possible (despite the premise) and avoid fighting or using inflammatory remarks at nearly all cost. If I get a bunch of complaints about this thread and have to move it to the OT wasteland, I will be none too pleased with the parties involved.


The killjoy hat is now back in the closet - proceed with the fun.

Killjoy! Your Will card has just been revoked!

All kidding aside, this universe is purely a celebration of the love of TB2. I have no idea who will win, and will report in a purely objective spirit. That way, when Mike Gravel beats Alan Keyes to win the 2008 White House, we can all celebrate without an ounce of rancor.

I have every confidence others will post in similar spirit.

[CONN CHRIS]

Now that would be good times!

[bigMatt]

Have performance points been expunged from TB2.5? I was all set to use them as a measuring stick for Dem primaries, but I can't find PP's anywhere. Am I missing something?

PS - never mind - I figured it out.

[jbergey22]

Neat idea Matt.

I am curious to see how this unfolds. I like the setup with the money and the training system you have set up.

[Lee]

Real cool idea, will be following.