1. Go to http://fantasycongress.com/edu/ and follow the instructions to set up your classroom and then create a league. You can specify start and end dates, levels of difficulty, etc.
2. Send your students to http://fantasycongress.com/edu/ and have them sign up with your assigned Class ID and Class Code
3. They will now be part of your class, they will now need to join the class league you created.

Fantasy Congress runs during the two years Congress convenes. Each Congress has two regular sessions representing each year. You can play Fantasy Congress anytime you want (and start/end your leagues to your choosing), but generally the seasons consist of the following:

• Spring Season (January 4- May 25)
• Summer (June 4- August 4)
• Fall (September 4- November 2)

2nd Session (2008)

• Spring (January 4- May 23)
• Summer (June 2- July 25) *UPCOMING SEASON*
• Fall (September 1- September 26)

These seasons are perfect for teaching during the Fall and Spring semesters, linking the actual on-goings of Congress to performance. League Commissioners can activate their leagues for drafting anytime, but scoring will not take place until Congress reconvenes each season.

If you're in a 12-team league, the team with the most legislation points receives 12 points, the team with the second most receives 11 points, and so on. In the case of a tie, each team involved receives an average of the total points due. So, in the above example, if two teams were tied for first in legislation, each would receive 11.5 points [(12 + 11) / 2 = 11.5].

The maximum number of points that a team can earn is equal to the number of scoring categories within a league multiplied by the number of teams in the league. Similarly, the lowest number of points that a team can earn is equal to the number of scoring categories multiplied by one, which is the lowest score that can be achieved in any category.

So, if you were playing in a league with 12 teams and 12 scoring categories, the lowest point total possible is 12 [12 * 1 = 12] and the highest is 144 [12 * 12 = 144].

Rankings within the individual scoring categories are based on the cumulative stats earned by all active Members of Congress during the season and not on any individual day or game.

• Legislation- how far a bill goes in the legislative process primarily sponsored by your MC
• Co-sponsored Legislation- the progress of co-sponsored legislation (3/5 of total points if sponsored on date of bill introduction, 1/5 of total points if sponsored within one week of bill introduction)
• Maverick Votes- Maverick votes are points awarded to Members of Congress when they vote against their party during tight and deciding votes. Many centrists and even some radicals have high maverick scores.
• Voting Attendance- If your Member of Congress is likely out campaigning, then they are likely not going to be able to attend their votes as much.
• News Mentions- Points are awarded for the number of times mentioned in the news. Members of Congress want to be in the news to be able to communicate their priorities and show the public they are doing something. They try to sway national opinion.
• Speeches- how often and how much your MCs advocate on the chamber floor (COMING SOON!)

• Legislation (LEG) = All sponsored pieces of legislation (including amendments) receive a higher score as they move further down the legislative process. See our Legislative Tutorial. For example, an introduced bill that passes both chambers could receive up to a total of 80 points.
• Cosponsorship (CSP)= All cosponsored pieces of legislation (including amendments) that receive a higher score as they move further down the legislative process. (3/5 of total points if sponsored on date of bill introduction, 1/5 of total points if sponsored within one week of bill introduction)

• Voting Attendance (ATD)= # of Votes Taken this Session/ Total Votes in House or Senate
• Maverick (MVK)= Cumulative score of (Votes Against Majority of Party * Tightness of the Vote)

• News (NWS)= number of prominent news articles mentione the Member of Congress within the season

1. More Votes (attendance and maverick scores) means Less News, and vice versa. Each Member of Congress can only spend so much of their time voting and also making news.
2. Rookies are good for Attendance and Maverick scores. Usually Rookies don't make much news and don't have a lot of successful legislation, so their votes are generally considered their most powerful asset.
3. All-Stars are great for legislation because most are high-ranking members and chairs of committees.
4. Supporting Lineup are great for co-sponsorship.
5. Senators are great for everything. Many will make more news than usual because they will likely campaign more.

How does this Member of Congress rate in your opinion? Rating a Member of Congress provides a look at their importance, controversy, and agreeability according to the FantasyCongress community.

Rating legislation provides a look at what is important, controversial, and agreeable according to the FantasyCongress community.

We threw in an interesting twist: we won't show you certain information, such as the sponsoring member of Congress and the combined community response, until after you've rated the bill! Don't worry, though, we provide as much information as we can. The extra information will never change the purpose of a bill.

Coupled with our random legislation generator (which will never send you a piece of legislation that you've already rated and seen the extra information on!), this system provides a way for our users to rate real bills and see what the rest of FantasyCongress thinks too. To start rating, just click on a star, you'll see the extra information after you've rated the bill in all three categories.

FantasyCongress allows community interaction through messaging between user accounts. Feel free to send someone a message if you wish to join their team or have questions about their strategy. It's always nice to send a nice note.

FantasyCongress is a unique community ranging from the student of politics to the hardened politician. Choose from a variety of avatars to express yourself to the community.

There is no limit to the number of teams or leagues you can join.

There is an important caveat to this: First, we do distinguish between different types of legislation. In Congress, Bills (beginning with H.R. or S.) and Joint Resolutions (H.J.Res. or S.J.Res.) have the force of law (passage in both houses and the signature of the President), while Concurrent Resolutions ( H.Con.Res. or S.Con.Res) and Simple Resolutions (H.Res. or S.Res.) do not have the force of law. Generally, bills and joint resolutions are more difficult to pass because they have the force of law. Second, we discriminate against legislation that is primarily commemorative, e.g. renaming a Post Office. Thus, our system divides all legislation without the force of law by five (reflecting the relative ease of passing such legislation). This change allows the game to be based on more substantive legislation, while still rewarding MCs who pass legislation without the force of law.