Junta is a board game which puts its players in the roles of several corrupt elite families competing for power in a stereotypical
Banana Republic. At the beginning of the game, the players all elect an "El Presidente" who in turn assigns each of them a different cabinet position. Each round sees El Presidente drawing 8 bills of foreign aid money before proposing a budget to distribute the money to each player along. If the majority of players are unsatisfied with the budget, they can vote to reject it, which is where the real fun begins, as players can make various coup attempts, assassinations and power plays in an attempt to consolidate as much wealth as possible and transfer it to their
Swiss Bank Account. The game ends when the foreign aid money runs out, with whoever has the most money in their account being the winner.
This game provides examples of:
- Banana Republic: Takes place in a stereotypical Latin American dictatorship, which is even called "La Republica de los Bananas".
- Civil War: Happens when a coup is declared, leading to a war between the "loyalists" of El Presidente and the "rebels" looking to overthrow him.
- Cool Shades: Some editions of the game come with a pair of sunglasses for the player acting as "El Presidente" to wear.
- Corrupt Politician: Players are given "budgets" from the foreign aid money for their government offices. Each player's objective is to skim off as much as possible into their Swiss Bank Account.
- The Coup: Much of the gameplay is comprised of this. Coups can be initiated by a player for any number of reasons, including if the budget fails or if a player plays a card giving a coup excuse.
- The Dictatorship: Set in one. Based on the fact that the government positions are all military ones, it appears to be a military dictatorship.
- The Exile: If a player has a location marker placed on an embassy, then they can go into exile to avoid getting killed. This keeps them safe from assassination attempts, but also limits their activities on the board.
- Full-Circle Revolution: If a coup succeeds, chances are the new "El Presidente" will be just as corrupt as the previous one.
- The Generalissimo: "El Presidente", the player who controls the fictional nation, with the other players as his cohorts.
- Greed: The driving motive of each player in the game, as the objective is to accumulate enough wealth in your account until the foreign aid money runs out.
- La Résistance: A player can start one by declaring a coup against El Presidente, making them the "First Rebel". Of course, if no other other players join in, they may become the only rebel and face getting taken out by all the other players.
- Nepotism: If a player goes into exile during an assassination or coup phase, then El Presidente may control the position they once held through a "brother-in-law".
- Rebellious Rebel: During a coup attempt, players within the "rebels" can fight against each other as well as the loyalists to gain better positions for themselves.
- Secret Police: The Minister of Internal Security controls the country's "secret police", which can be used to carry out assassinations against other players.
- Stealth Pun: The name of the Fictional Country "La Republica de los Bananas" may be this in Portuguese or a grammatical error, since bananas use female articles the correct form should be "La Republica de las Bananas". Instead it's an adjective due to it using a male article, with "bananas" being a slang term with the same meaning that it has in English: crazy.
- Swiss Bank Account: Each player has one, and the objective of the game is to get as much money as possible transferred into it.
- Wild Card: During the coup phase, other players may find it beneficial to change sides or stay neutral as is beneficial to them.
