Swing State guide: how to win Calder
To win Swing State, send canvassers to the close, smaller counties, use your candidate's bus for rallies in the biggest close county you can reach, keep a pollster out so the fog doesn't hide a collapse, open field offices early for volunteers, and save money for ad vans in the suburbs in the final week when early voting doubles the value of getting voters out.
What is Swing State?
Swing State is a free real-time strategy game about a Senate race in Calder, a made-up swing state with eighteen counties. It was made for the US midterms on 3 November 2026, but everything in it is fictional: the state, the counties, the Harbor and Prairie parties and both candidates are invented, and the game takes no side. You train campaign units, send them along the roads and fight an AI campaign that plays by the same rules until results night counts every county.
The units
| Unit | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ Candidate bus | (one only) | Rallies: a big swing in the county, plus attention and volunteers. Fundraisers: money, more in wealthy counties. |
| 🚶 Canvassers | $2k + 40 volunteers | Knock doors: win the undecided and raise your turnout. Best in small counties. |
| 📺 Ad van | $9k, then $2.2k a day | Ads in its county and, more weakly, next door. Also pulls soft voters from the other side. |
| 📋 Pollster | $5k | Lifts the fog in its county and the next ones, and sharpens your statewide poll. |
| 🚌 Surrogate bus | $12k | Smaller rallies than your candidate's. Two at most. |
| 🏢 Field office | $7k | Recruits volunteers every day, trains units and keeps the county in view. Six at most. |
Where should I send my units?
Each county's tint shows who you think is ahead there: the paler it is, the closer the race. That's where your units do the most good.
- Canvassers move small counties fastest. A team in a county of 40,000 voters shifts its share more than twice as fast as a team in Port Calder. Two teams in one county beat one, but each extra team adds less.
- Ad vans are best parked in a big, close county with close neighbours, because the ads spill over the border. The suburbs around Belden, Ashford and Linden are ideal.
- Rallies are worth most in big close counties, and a county you rallied in the last four days gives only half the swing, so move the bus around.
How do the fog of war and polls work?
You only see what's happening where you have a unit or an office. Everywhere else is hatched: you see your last poll there and how old it is. The other campaign's units are hidden in the fog too. Pollsters reveal their county and its neighbours with sharp numbers; plain presence gives a rougher read. The poll at the top of the screen adds up what you know, and its margin of error shrinks with every pollster you have in the field. Don't trust a big lead you haven't checked in a week.
Money, volunteers and attention
Money comes in every day from donors (more when your attention meter is high) and from offices; units cost upkeep. If money runs out, ad vans go dark. Volunteers come from your HQ and offices, more where you're popular, and from rallies; canvassers need them. Attention makes everything you do work better: rallies, events and bold choices raise it, and it fades back over time.
The news cards
Every few days a news story lands with a choice and a timer: a debate, a flood, a newspaper interview, a hot-mic gaffe, an endorsement offer, a mill closing. The safest answer is rarely the strongest, and letting the timer run out is usually the worst choice of all. Your opponent faces its own stories, and you'll see what it chose in the news feed.
Two moments are scripted. Early voting opens two thirds of the way through: from then on, a canvasser's work getting voters to the polls counts double. Then comes the final stretch, the last three days.
A plan for each party
- Harbor (teal): your HQ is in Port Calder, the biggest county, but it moves slowly. Hold it with an office and a canvasser, then win the suburbs: Ashford, Lakeview, Linden and Belden. Send one team into the farm counties to keep the margins down there.
- Prairie (amber): your HQ in Belden sits in the middle of the map, so your buses reach everything fast. Lock down the farm and hill counties with canvassers and offices, and fight for Ironton and the suburbs with ads.
Frequently asked questions
Is Swing State free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on computers and phones (turn the phone sideways), with nothing to install.
Is it about a real election?
No. It was made for the 2026 midterms, but the state, counties, parties and candidates are all made up, and no real politician or issue appears.
How long does a campaign take?
About four minutes for three weeks at normal speed and about eight for six weeks, plus results night. 2x and 3x speed skip through the quiet stretches.
How do I get on the leaderboard?
Create a free account (18+) and win. A win scores 10,000 points plus 1,000 per point of margin and 250 per county, multiplied by 0.7 on Easy and 1.4 on Hard. Your biggest winning margin also goes on the Landslide board.
Free browser gameSwing StateRun a Senate campaign in a made-up swing state: train canvassers, charter rally buses, run ad vans and send pollsters into the fog against an AI rival, then watch results night paint the map.▶ Play free
