How to play

Three phases: election, negotiation, term. The election takes a minute and splits 120 seats between thirteen parties. Negotiation is haggling for a coalition. The term is 52 weeks of governing whatever you assembled.

Four parties are playable: Likud, Yashar, Beyachad and Yisrael Beiteinu. The other nine do not run for prime minister — you will meet them across the negotiating table.

Every party has demands: portfolios, budgets, laws. Accepting one raises their willingness to join, refusing lowers it. Some demands are marked non-negotiable: refuse and talks with that party are over.

Red lines are pairs of parties that will not sit together. Sometimes you can push through anyway, but the price is steep.

The thing to understand immediately: almost every demand enrages somebody. Exactly who is listed on the demand card.

Portfolios are not handed out at random. Promised ones go to whoever was promised; the rest are split by seat count. The preview during negotiation shows the future cabinet in advance and flags conflicts: if three parties expect Defence, one gets it and two remember.

A partner who got less than their seats deserve grumbles louder as the term goes on.

Every accepted demand becomes a promise with a deadline. Budget promises are closed with money from the coalition funds — ₪8 billion for the whole term, with no other source except the budget vote. Law promises are closed with turns: two or three passes.

A missed deadline counts as broken: the partner loses satisfaction and loyalty, and if it was non-negotiable, they leave immediately.

Delivering everything is not free. Billions show up in inflation, and loud laws raise social tension.

A partner whose satisfaction falls below 35 publicly demands a specific promise and gives you four weeks. The countdown is visible in the coalition panel and in the banner at the top.

The ultimatum is withdrawn if you deliver the named promise or bring trust back above 45. If the deadline passes, the party leaves and its seats leave with it.

The indicators are not decoration. The state of the country — prices, jobs, security, housing — sets the equilibrium of your approval rating: a wrecked economy cannot sustain high support.

Interest groups — the IDF, the Supreme Court, the Histadrut, the haredi street and others — each watch their own numbers. Their mood feeds government stability and pulls along the parties they share a worldview with.

That is why a sinking Histadrut shows up on the dashboard before your secular partners start slipping. It is a warning, not cosmetics.

While an indicator sits above its threshold it drifts back to normal on its own. Below the threshold everything changes: it keeps falling, and only your decision pulls it out. That is the difference between "unpleasant" and "a crisis".

Every active crisis costs you government stability and the patience of all your partners, every single week. Two simultaneous crises is the cap on that punishment — and it is quite enough to start the coalition falling apart.

A crisis also changes the news: when something is failing, the weekly events start arriving about exactly that. The country talks to you about what hurts.

Tension is a special case: its crisis begins at 62, and at 85 for three weeks running the government falls. It rises not from mistakes but from loud decisions — including promises you keep. Keeping everything you promised and surviving are two different tasks.