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Working The Margins

A presidential campaign game. Run in a real American election, one week at a time, and find out on Election Night whether it worked.

Play in your browserHow to play

Free, with nothing to install and no account. Your campaigns save in this browser.

The campaign screen in 1960: the map of the states shaded by who leads, Headquarters beside it, and the week, the national poll, the funds and the actions left across the top.
Kennedy against Nixon, 1960, in its first week.

Six elections in your browser, one from each era

Run as one of the real candidates, with their record, the questions they really faced and the news of their year. A sitting President first chooses how his term went.

  • 1800Adams vs. JeffersonThe rematch
  • 1860Lincoln, Douglas, Breckinridge and BellA house divided, four ways
  • 1896Bryan vs. McKinleyThe Cross of Gold and the Front Porch
  • 1932Hoover vs. RooseveltThe Great Engineer and the new deal
  • 1960Kennedy vs. NixonThe closest race of the century
  • 1992Bush, Clinton and PerotIt’s the economy

All 60 presidential elections, 1789 to 2024, will be playable at launch on Steam. Coming soon

Or make up your own candidate and party, and run on any year’s map from 1788 to 2024.

How a campaign goes

  1. Choose your race

    Pick a real election and a side, or your own candidate on any year’s map, and how well your opponent plays: Easy, Normal, Hard or Expert.

  2. Twenty weeks

    Three actions a week: rallies and ads state by state, your platform, interviews, debates and fundraising, and the breaking news you have to answer. Your opponent works the same weeks against you.

  3. Election Night

    The states come in from east to west, the close ones last. If nobody wins a majority of the electoral votes, the House decides, and it can deadlock.

Good to know

What it costs

Nothing. The six elections here and your own candidate on any map are free, with nothing to install and no account. The full game is coming to Steam.

Saving

The game saves as you play, up to three campaigns in this browser. Clearing the browser’s data deletes them.

How long it takes

Twenty weeks of three actions, about sixty decisions and the news. You can stop after any week and pick it up later. Election Night takes a few minutes, or less at a faster speed.

History

Each real election starts from its real result, with every candidate’s sourced record and the questions they really faced. What happens in your campaign is yours, and nothing here predicts a real election. The sources are on the credits page.