Logrolling

Log Rolling

Background

Bargaining seldom involves a single issue at a time. Politicians, diplomats and the like are forced to balance their preferences on some issues against their preferences on others, given that they probably won't get their way on all of them. A concession may be made to another party on a less important topic in exchange for that other party's support on a more vital issue. This process is known as log rolling.

The cynical trading off of one issue against another is something that politicians certainly do, but tend not to talk about. Since different groups have different priorities, log rolling will often operate to the advantage of all concerned. One kind of example involves single-issue parties and lobby groups. The groups are well placed to barter support to other parties on those matter of indifference to them.

This game simulates log rolling by placing each player in the role of a member of a political committee. Each player has a set of priorities known only to eirself. The winning player will be the one who best succeeds in pushing through those proposals that are of most importance to eir.

The Rules

Adapted from Michael Laver's book "Playing Politics", Penguin (1979).

1. The Bank is equipped with two packs of playing cards, one with red backs, one with blue. (a) The (red-backed) agenda pack has all the court cards and the two jokers removed.
(b) The (blue-backed) preference pack is complete (with jokers) and has added to it the red-backed court cards and jokers from the agenda pack.

2. If there are more than nine players present, they will be divided into teams of two. Each players/team receives $100.

3. The preference pack is shuffled and cards are dealt to the teams until fewer cards than teams are left. Remaining cards are set aside face down. Suits represent issues to be voted on. The more high cards a player/teams holds in a particular suit, the more that team will be rewarded if the committee votes in favour of spending money on that issue. Exception: court cards (and jokers) are irrelevant, see rule 6 below.

4. We next set the agenda -- the issues to be discussed and the order in which they will be discussed. This is fixed by dealing twelve cards from the agenda pack. The are placed in a line in the middle of the table, alternately face up and face down. (The agenda for this committee, like most, is laced with surprises). The suit of the nth card determines the nth issue to be discussed at the meeting. At each of the twelve stages, a project concerning the issue is to be considered. The committee will have to decide, by majority vote, whether or not to spend money on this project.

5. Negotiating: Before each vote there is a three minute negotiating session. The players are free to discuss with each other how they are going to vote. They may, if they wish, show each other cards from their hands. They may even buy/sell/trade cards from one another.

6. Voting: At the end of the three minutes the vote is taken. Each team votes by placing a card from its hand face down on the table. (a) A vote against a motion is cast by playing a joker or a court card.
(b) A vote for a motion is cast by playing any other card.

Any team not voting within thirty seconds is fined $10 and is deemed to have abstained.

Note that red-backed cards are negative votes which are clearly identifiable as such, even face down.

After the thirty seconds have elapsed, all the cards played are turned over. If a majority are not court cards or jokers, the motion passes. Otherwise it fails.

7. Payout: If the motions fails, there is no payout and no costs are levied.

If the motion passes, each team is charged $12.

If the motion passes, each team that voted in favour receives a payout as follows: (a) A vote in favour with a card of a different suit to that of the issue under discussion receives the face value, in dollars, of the card played.
(b) A vote in favour with a card of the same suit as that of the issue under discussion receives double the face value of the card played.
(c) The team that plays the highest card in favour of the proposal from the suit representing the issue under discussion receives an additional $10 bonus.

8. Discussion moves on to the next item. If the next agenda card is face down, it is now turned face up. The three minute negotiating session starts, and play proceeds as in 5-7 above.

9. How the meeting ends: If the next agenda card is an ace, or if all twelve agenda cards have been used, the meeting ends.

This game examines the urge to defect; and the lack of trust between people. It is best played with more than 10 people.

1. Each player starts the game with $0, the bank starts with $100.

2. After a period of negotiation each player writes down a number (secretly) between 1 and 1000.

3. The winner is the player with the highest unique number (N).

4. The payout is $ (100 / the winning player's number).

As you can see winning with a large number (1000) will only gain you 10 cents; ideally you wish to win with the number 1; but this requires a certain amount of negotiation. I only know of one game where the bank has had to pay out the full $100, and very few where the bank has paid out more than $5.