PLAYER GUIDE
How to play Working The Margins
Working The Margins is a free browser campaign strategy game. A run begins with candidate creation, continues through twenty campaign weeks, and finishes on Election Night.
1. Create your contest
Open Play game and move through the six setup steps. Name both candidates, choose preset or custom parties, select an election map, and set your difficulty. Custom parties can choose positions on ten issues; use the issue dropdown or Previous issue and Next issue buttons to review them.
Historical maps, the original map, and randomized maps offer different starting scenarios. Review the map guide for the selected year. Difficulty stays fixed after you launch.
2. Plan each campaign week
The headquarters screen puts the electoral map alongside your funds, available actions, and calendar. Visit the platform, interviews, debates, spending, endorsements, and history sections to explore your options. State selections open more detail and local campaign actions.
Rallies, organization, advertising, and fundraising use resources. Read the displayed costs and feedback before making a choice. Breaking events require a response before you continue. When your week is complete, advance the calendar.
3. Follow your campaign history
Review the history screen to revisit decisions and their consequences. The dashboard and state dossiers update as you play. You can compare different approaches across separate runs; starting a new campaign replaces the single browser save.
4. Watch Election Night
Votes arrive gradually. Use the speed controls to slow down, speed up, or pause the count. Select a state to inspect its results, or return to the national popular-vote display. Close contests may take longer to resolve.
Saves and device support
Your campaign is saved automatically in browser storage on this domain. Use the same browser and device to resume. Saves do not sync between devices, and private browsing or clearing site data can remove progress. No account is needed.
Historical context
All eras use a two-side game format and shared campaign tools. Modern state outlines are used for navigation. Read the setup notes for era-specific limits and the credits and historical sources for details.
Start or resume a campaign →