Back in 1999 I built an Electoral College game in Asymetrix ToolBook. Two teams, one map of the United States, and one rule that every presidential candidate knows by heart: first to 270 wins. It ran on classroom computers for years. Now it runs in any browser, free.
Where I learned it: Charlotte, 1960
I didn’t invent this game. I learned it. In the fall of 1960, with Kennedy and Nixon going at it, Miss Stucky turned our 5th grade class in Charlotte, North Carolina, into the Electoral College. We learned the states, their capitals, and how many electoral votes each one carried, then raced to put a president in the White House.
A few years later at Smith Junior High School (long since torn down), Miss Kimbrough let us play the same simulation all over again. Two great teachers. As far as a room full of boys was concerned, they were also out of the regular league, and sure enough, both of them got married the very next year.
More than sixty years later I still know my states and capitals, and I still know it takes 270. That’s what a good classroom game does. This one is for Miss Stucky and Miss Kimbrough.
How it plays
- Set up the match. Name your two teams and toss the coin to see who picks first.
- Pick a state. Every state, plus D.C., has its own question. Answer it and that state’s electoral votes go on your team’s board.
- Race to 270. The bar across the top shows how close each team is. Do you grab California early, or pick off the small states one at a time? That’s the same math a real campaign does.
The map moves with the census
Electoral votes aren’t fixed. Every ten years the census reshuffles them, so the game lets you pick an election era, from 1964–1968 all the way to 2024–2028. In 1964 New York carried 43 electoral votes and California 40. Today California has 54 and New York 28. Switch eras in the middle of class and students can watch the country move south and west right on the map.
For teachers
Click Teacher Setup to rewrite any state’s question so the game fits your unit, whether that’s the Constitution, the three branches, or this week’s vocabulary. If you want the originals back, one click restores all 51. The Teacher Guide walks you through setting up a match, changing questions, and choosing an election era.
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