The Political Machine 2016

The Political Machine 2016 is a strategy game where the player is running for President of the United States during the 2016 election. The player picks a real-life politician to run as, such as Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton (or many other pre-made choices), or can create their own custom candidate. In either case, each candidate that you can choose from has several character traits that differentiate them, such as Charisma, Credibility, Fund Raising Ability etc. Each candidate belongs to either the Democratic or Republican party, and has stances on real-life issues (such as Abortion Rights or Resettlement of Refugees).

A turn-based game, The Political Machine 2016 can be played online against one other person, or in single-player against the AI. The setting is humorous, due to the game's light-hearted sound effects and the cartoony bobblehead style of the candidates. The issues are real, and how individual states feel about certain issues is also based on real-life data. The candidate roster represents politicians that ran during the 2016 election, and there are also candidates in the game that have run in the past.

The game is played out by traveling to different states across the country, spreading your message on the issues you care about, keeping in mind how each state ranks the importance of those issues. During a turn you perform actions such as fund raising, giving speeches, placing ads, and traveling from state to state. Each action costs Stamina, Cash, or both. When you run out of stamina, your turn is over. Halfway through the game, you choose a running mate, controlling them in the same way as your original candidate. The player can choose the number of turns to play in a game (from four choices) during game setup. At the end of the final turn, each state determines who they will vote for, and that candidate receives all of the state's Electoral Votes. After all states have decided, the candidate with the majority of the Electoral Votes is the winner.

The game is part of an on-going series of titles that has had entries during every USA presidential election cycle since 2004. Previous games are The Political Machine, The Political Machine 2008 and The Political Machine 2012. Owners of previous versions can upgrade for a smaller price.