Negotiation as a game mechanic has an interesting property— players seem to hate it or not have a strong opinion. I've met few people who claim to love negotiation. They may love games which incorporate it, but if you were to ask them how they felt about negotiation per se, they'd profess ambivalence. The exceptions tend to be people who are remarkably good at getting people to agree with them. Surprise, surprise.
All of the games below include negotiation in one form or another. Although auctions may be considered forms of negotiation, you won't find any auction games in the list.
Bohnanza: Reviewed elsewhere in this issue, this card game seamlessly keeps the flow of cards moving among players through quick negotiations throughout the game.
Diplomacy: The archetypal negotiation game, this Avalon Hill classic is also responsible for the close association between "negotiation" and "backstabbing" in gaming. Diplomacy, a political game of military domination, is almost purely based on negotiation. Turns consist of a timed period during which players privately make requests, demands, insinuations, and promises to each other about their troop movements. Everyone writes down their troop orders and, when time's up, reveals their actions and their true allies. Diplomacy is not for the feint-hearted. I know many people who no longer play because of bad blood from broken deals. Games also take hours to complete, which is one reason why Diplomacy is commonly played by mail.
Elfenwizards: A departure for Alan Moon, this last of White Wind's 1200 series of games has players using dice to cast votes in a series of wizardly elections. Players are free to make deals to garner votes, such as promising not to contest someone in one election in exchange for support in another. Deals aren't binding, and it's often convenient to "forget" an earlier promise. Not Alan's best effort but far from his worst, Elfenwizards ultimately fails to engage on a thematic level.
Illuminati: Second only to Diplomacy on the backstabbing scale, Illuminati deserves every bit of its classic status. In the battle among rival conspiracies for world domination through control of wacky fringe groups, almost anything short of cheating is fair game. Alliances form and shift with every turn as players fight for the greater good— as long as it's in their own interest. The whimsical, tongue-in-cheek tone helps keep Illuminati from getting mired beneath its modifiers and special rules. The standalone card game is now out of print, replaced by the inferior, collectible Illuminati: New World Order.
Intrige: The negotiation process is more formalized in FX Schmid's Intrige, and consequently more subtle. Players seek employment in foreign villas, where bribery is de rigeur for getting the job. No matter how many people seek jobs, the employer gets to keep all bribes— even if only one person gets hired. Tit-for-tat and mutual backscratching are common, and although lots of assurances of future favors might be made, none of it is binding. "I'm sorry, you must have spoken to my demented twin brother. We keep him sedated, but sometimes he gets loose and meets with visitors. I hope he didn't make any false promises to you." The inherently brutal and self-serving nature of Intrige makes it unsuitable for sensitive players who bruise easily.
Junta: Keeping people happy through bribery and fast talking is vital to El Presidente's survival in this classic from West End. The president usually lets money do the talking for him, but promises of greater power and wealth in exchange for loyal support can turn the tide of a coup. Although the game can get sandbagged by frequent coup attempts which detract from the levity of assassinations, if players are willing to roleplay a bit the delays are worthwhile. Part light wargame, part card game, Junta's negotiations are a small but colorful part of the glorious revolution.
Koalition: Central to this card game is the forging of koalitions. Negotiations are limited, consisting mainly of surveying the table to see who is eligible and then finding someone willing to do the deed. Sadly, the game falls victim to an arcane scoring system which makes it difficult to know who's winning until the end of the game, making informed decisions unlikely. This game has recently been republished by Abacus but I don't know how, if at all, the rules have been changed.
Kohle, Kies, & Knete: This game is a departure for Sid Sackson, whose games aren't usually so cutthroat and contentious. Players undercut each other to muscle in on profitable deals which get more valuable as the game progresses. Players choose to draw more cards to increase their resources or attempt to put a deal together. The components needed for the deal are determined randomly, and if the player doesn't have them all he must offer shares of the profits to opponents to gain their assistance. Cardplay adds to the chaos, allowing players to swipe resources out from under their rivals.
Metropolis: Sackson again in this out-of-print and fairly hard to find real estate game from Ravensburger. Metropolis combines the random element of Acquire with the property trading of Monopoly. Players can team up to build the most valuable structures, splitting the proceeds, or they can trade points and property freely. Despite the open nature of negotiations, this is a game where luck plays as great a role as, if not greater than, strategy— initial land plots are random, and further acquisitions are dictated by luck of the draw. Players can find themselves out of the running through no fault of their own. It does have nifty molded plastic buildings, though.
Pit: Perhaps the oldest negotiation game of all, Pit strips the process down to its frenzied essence. Players trade cards by shouting out the number of cards they're looking to trade. When someone signals agreement, the two of them swap equal numbers of cards. The first player to "corner the market" by obtaining all nine cards of a suit scores points. A wild card can help, but costs a penalty if someone else corners the market. Pit is available today from Winning Moves, but 70's editions including an orange bellhop bell are worth seeking.
Quo Vadis?: This Reiner Knizia design is largely underrated. Players try to move their senators up the ladder to positions of power, collecting "laurels" of varying value along the way. To advance, a player must get the OK of a majority of senators currently at the rung he's trying to leave. Back-scratching and palm-greasing are often necessary to earn those votes. The favor of Caesar can let someone advance for free, but without earning any laurels either. Quo Vadis? is an elegant, quick, and stylishly presented. It's a quick game with just the right mix of strategy and schmoozing, and deserves more recognition and respect than it usually receives.
Rette Sich Wer Kann: Affectionately known as the lifeboat game, Rette translates to Every Man for Himself and lives up to the name. Refugees from a shipwreck pile into lifeboats headed for the relative safety of desert islands. Problem is, the boats leak. And players secretly vote on which boat leaks each turn. If the boat's too full to take on water, one of the passengers must be pitched overboard— again, decided by vote. And a vote decides which boat moves closer to safety. Actually, lumping this game in with other negotiation games isn't very accurate— deals aren't really possible. But there is an element of persuasion, alliance, and tit-for-tat which hovers on the verge, and the line of demarcation between people who do and don't enjoy it seems to converge with that of negotiation games.
Saludos Amigos: Similar in feel to Kohle, Kies, & Knete but simpler, the theme of this Gold Sieber game may lose something in the translation. Players take the roll of shady government officials in charge of authorizing land development deals. Negotiating strength comes from a combination of resource allocation and random die rolls. The game moves briskly, starting with low payoffs which increase as the game progresses. A chit-from-the-bag system is used, with a random end trigger akin to that seen in Maestro.
Settlers of Catan: Do I really need to say anything more about this game? Suffice it to say, if you haven't yet played this game (either in the original German or the American edition published by Mayfair), you're missing out on the biggest buzz in boardgames since Trivial Pursuit. Even people who don't like negotiation games like this one, which appeals to gamers and non-gamers alike. Survey is a new recurring column rounding up games with common characteristics. Have a suggestion for a theme, or perhaps a game I missed this time around? Drop me a note to let me know.