Working The Margins · How to play · Play game

Credits & licenses

The people, projects, and historical sources behind the game.

Map

State outlines are adapted from U.S. Census boundaries distributed through us-atlas 3.0.1, by Michael Bostock. The game uses an Albers USA projection with Alaska and Hawaii insets.

Read the map copyright and permission notice.

Historical election data

• The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara: state popular-vote totals used for 1964–2024 starting margins and 1824–2024 Election Night turnout baselines. Retrieved September 6–12, 2026.
• National Archives Electoral College records: historical electoral allocations, returns, and election context. Individual election references are also linked from campaign setup.

The simulation adapts elections to two competing sides. Earlier starting maps use game approximations from electoral returns, not measured popular-vote percentages. Historical figures and results are separate from the game's simulated campaign outcomes.

Congressional composition & election-night rules

Historical state delegation and Senate party counts are aggregated from the unitedstates/congress-legislators dataset (CC0), including dated party affiliations. Snapshots use February 9 after each election, except April 6, 1789. No personal ideology scores are used.

The House history of contingent elections describes state-delegation voting. This game simplifies the process to two tickets, participating states and up to twelve ballots. Compatibility and campaign effects are invented gameplay rules; a deadlock is not automatically a presidential victory.

Popular-vote totals are unavailable before 1824 in the source tables; legislature-selected states are also excluded from popular-vote aggregation. No missing ballots are fabricated.

Software & icons

Built with React, Vinext, Base UI, shadcn components, Tailwind, Lucide icons, and other open-source projects. Lucide includes icons derived from Feather by Cole Bemis.

• Full third-party copyright, license, and notice texts
• Package versions and license inventory

The inventory includes installed production dependencies, including tooling that is not delivered to players. License notices are regenerated during each build. Upstream source links accompany externally retrieved notices.