Lobby 1949

This is probably the earliest game based on the U.S. legislative process. The mechanics are simple roll-and-move, but the game board gives players a detailed look at the many steps a bill must take between being introduced and being signed into law.

Each player starts by sponsoring a bill in either the Senate or House, and is encouraged to declare the subject and intent of the bill aloud for flavor. It then wends its way, 2D6 at a time, through obstacles such as committee hearings and filibusters, and when it succeeds in passing one chamber, it starts over in the other. After approval of both Senate and House, it makes its way 1D6 at a time toward final signing.

Players get one Parliamentary Procedure Card at game start, and may pick up Congressional Record cards along the way. Some of these have instructions (go forward or back x spaces), but others are "negotiable". Like the Parliamentary Procedure cards, these provide benefits like getting reported out of committee, ending an opponent's turn, ducking a filibuster and avoiding the deadly Red Circle spaces that kill your bill and send it back to start over. Players may trade such cards at any time.

The game is not as complex as the legislative process it models, but the descriptions on the spaces do provide a thorough review of just how complex that process is.