Early last year, I caught wind that The Dietz Foundation was working with a new designer named Yoni Goldstein on his first game called Chicago ’68 and I was immediately interested. Chicago ’68 deals with the Democratic National Convention riots of 1968 in Chicago and sees players taking on the role of either the Establishment or the Demonstrators in a fast-paced game of street battles and political maneuvers. I reached out to Yoni and he was more than willing to discuss the game with me and also work on a series of Event Card spoiler posts in a run up to the Kickstarter campaign at the time. But now, the game is available in retail and I asked Yoni if he would do a few more Event Card Spoilers to share with you about the game.

In this series, we will cover several different types of cards included in the game and give their details so that you can understand how the game works and how it incorporates the historical narrative of the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention Riots.

But first off, a bit about the game itself. Chicago ’68 is a game about the riots during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, set against the social upheavals of America in the sixties. On one side: the Youth International Party (aka The Yippies) and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (aka the MOBE), on the other: Mayor Daley, the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard. The game unfolds over the course of three days during the Democratic National Convention – from the 26th to the 29th of August, culminating in the nomination of a presidential candidate. There are two victory conditions: one is to gain the most media exposure favorable to your side and the other is to influence the delegate vote and bolster your political aims. The Demonstrators may pivot between these two objectives while the Establishment, although more powerful, must fight and win on both fronts.

Card #9: Antiwar Sympathy

In 1968, approximately 5,600 Illinois National Guardsmen were sent to Chicago. They were posted at the International Amphitheater and the downtown hotels where candidates and delegates stayed. The guard served to augment the 11,500-member Chicago police force, 1,000 federal agents, and 7,500 soldiers. The armed presence of the National Guard presented a fearsome image, presaging the Kent State killings just a couple of years later. Yet some of the younger Guardsmen, however, were sympathetic to the cause. They recognized their peers on the streets. On August 23rd, just days before the convention, 43 Black soldiers staged a sit-in protest at Fort Hood to protest their deployment in Chicago. It was one of the largest collective refusals in US military history. “The people we are supposed to control, the rioters, are probably our own race…” reported one African American soldier, “We shouldn’t have to go out there and do wrong to our own people.”

Six leaders of the “Fort Hood 43”, standing with their attorney Michael Kennedy. From left:, Pfc. Ernest Bess, Pfc. Guy Smith, Sp/4 Albert Henry, Pvt. Ernest Frederick, Sgt. Robert Rucker, Sp/4 Tollie Royal. Photo by Ellen Catalinotto.

Sometimes historical models have the troublesome habit of becoming historical “pre-enactments.” Now, as I write this in the summer of ‘25 from Chicago, we are facing National Guard deployments at our doorstep. Veterans are calling on troops to follow their conscience and disobey orders and Chicagoans, once again, are bracing for war on the streets.

Scene from the Labor Day demonstration, Chicago 2025.

In the game, the National Guard deployment token is a strength modifier for the Police platoons. Their starting position in the Convention Hall and the Hilton Hotel effectively locks down these areas for the first round or two. “Antiwar Sympathy” represents a negotiated stand down by both sides. The National Guard retracts its bayonets and the protest wave recedes, civil unrest abates for a moment.

You can catch up on the series to date by following these links:

Card #1 – Police Action Card: Mass Arrest

Card #2 – Mob Chaos Card: “A stiff west wind…”

Card #3 – Supplementary Police Action Card: Flame-Throwers

Card #4 – Street Theater Card: The Battle of Michigan Ave

Card #5 – Tactics Card: Mob Payoffs

Card #6 – Street Theater Card: Improvised Barricades

Card #7 – Street Theater Cards: Jean and Allen & Allen Ginsberg OMM Chant

Card #8 – Mob Chaos Cards – Conditional Events