Players are various office holders in the ruling Junta. Depending upon their office and the various cards they hold, each player has a certain number of votes. These are important as they must first elect El Presidente and then take a vote on the budget that he proposes. Here's where it can get tricky. El Presidente draws cards face down from the money deck (which varies in denomination from $1 to $3) and then must propose a budget for the year, distributing the money as he sees fit amongst the various offices. Of course, loyalty to him is normally rewarded, while those pesky "thorns in his side" are usually cut off completely. The beauty of all this, though, is that El Presidente can — and most always does — keep a portion of the loot for himself. And since no one but him knows the value of what he drew, no one knows how much he's keeping. Suspicion is always ardent.

Players can attempt to assassinate the other players by guessing where they will be from among five locations. Players who successfully assassinate another player will take that player's money, as the only safe money is the money that has been deposited in a Swiss bank account, and the only way to get to the bank is to survive the assassination round.

If the players are unsatisfied, and there is an excuse, they can call for a coup, where the opposition players seek to take control of a majority of the power centers. Rebel players will control the forces of the role which they were assigned (e.g. army, navy, air force), and players loyal to El Presidente do the same, seeking to control the strongholds until the rebellion is quelled.

The goal of the game is to amass the greatest wealth secreted away in your Swiss bank account.