Tabletop Game #13: “Junta” — West End Games (1985)
Do you hate your friends? Do they hate you? No? Well that will all change after you play Junta, the tongue-in-cheek board game of corruption and revolution. Each of you plays a member of the ruling cabal in a banana republic, vying for the favor of el presidente and the plum posts he hands out. If you don’t like the way he’s distributing aid money from los Americanos, you are of course free to attempt a coup d’etat. Cheating, lying, bribing and assassinations are all fair game — though don’t take it personally: the only thing that matters is how much money you manage to sock away in your Swiss bank account by the end of the game.
Our sessions were particularly brutal, especially after a friend introduced a new rule — “a little something I like to call the Shakedown,” Matt was fond of saying — and participants had to be carefully vetted after one belligerent player in a pickup game at a convention nearly became violent. In fact, my old gaming group has, for all practical purposes, retired Junta due to the strain it put on our friendship
Ahhh, good times.
Nostalgia in the Time of Machines 