Try it yourself

The Gerrymander Game

A neighborhood where Blue has more voters than Red. Learn the moves one small step at a time below, then draw the real map yourself at the bottom.

Practice 1

Draw your first map

Four homes, two districts. Pick a crayon below, then click homes to color them. Put two homes in each district, side by side.

Pick a crayon, then click a home.

Practice 2

Make it fair

Six homes: three Blue, three Red. Draw two districts of three so each team wins one. That is a fair map.

Two districts, three homes each.

Practice 3

Try packing

Nine homes: five Blue, four Red. Blue has more voters, but you can still make Red win. Stuff lots of Blue homes into ONE district and see what happens to the other two.

Three districts, three homes each.

The real game

Now gerrymander the neighborhood

Twenty-five homes, five districts of five. Blue has more voters. Your job: draw the lines so Red wins anyway.

Blue · 52% Red · 48%

Pick a color → click or drag across homes → click a home again to clear it. Five connected homes per district.

Stuck? The cheat sheet below doubles as a strategy guide.

Congratulations.

PackingCram the other side’s voters into a few districts they win overwhelmingly, so their extra votes count for nothing.
CrackingSplit whoever is left across many districts, so they fall just short in every one of them.
Wasted votesEvery vote in a losing district, and every vote past a majority in a winning one. Gerrymandering is the art of making the other side waste more.

Now you know how the lines work.

Real maps get drawn the same way, just with more people and higher stakes. Help us make the rules clearer for everyone.

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