The Campaign Trail (Web Game)

The Campaign Trail
Front page of the New Campaign Trail, with theme found on the original website.
Genre(s)	Political, strategy simulation
Creator(s)	Dan Bryan
Platform(s)	Android, iPhone, PC, Mac

The Campaign Trail (sometimes abbreviated as TCT) is an American political strategy game created by American history teacher Dan Bryan in 2012. Players may run as a major candidate for President of the United States in select years ranging from 1844 to 2020. As of December 2024, the original Campaign Trail game hosted on Dan Bryan's website, American History USA, is no longer functional. However, there are several fan-run websites replicating the original game; the first of these, The New Campaign Trail, being created in 2021, and another, the Campaign Trail Showcase, being created in 2023.

Gameplay

Introduction

A player can select an election year (also called scenario), a candidate–usually a major party candidate–from the selected election year, and an accompanying running mate. After selecting Nixon, players answer an average of 25 questions, which address their policies and responses to events that historically occurred during the campaign, and visit states before election day to win. In a question, they may choose one of up to four answers, with each changing policy stances and affecting candidate polling.

Custom Scenarios

Players have created user-made scenarios, or mods, in several genres that include historical, alternate historical, fictional, and non-political scenarios. These mods are primarily hosted on fan pages, though modification of the original site was possible before it became defunct.