CROWN & BALLOT Open the game
Crown & Ballot

Any nation. Any year. Your orders.

Crown & Ballot is a history sandbox with an AI game master. Lead any country or armed movement from any date between 1815 and today. Give your orders in plain words, and the game master tells you what the world does next: written like a history book, drawn on a living map.

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The game in 2002: Iraq on a muted staff map, with army corps, airbases, the Kurdish-held north and the turn controls

Pick a moment in history

Eleven ready-made starts, each on the borders of its time, or any date you like from 1815 on.

Map of After Waterloo on the borders of the time
19 June 181519th century

After Waterloo

With Napoleon beaten, the Congress of Vienna redraws Europe and the great powers carve up the peace.

Play asUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, France, Austrian Empire, Prussia, Russian Empire and more
Map of The July Crisis on the borders of the time
28 June 1914World War I

The July Crisis

Archduke Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo. Europe's alliance system starts to pull every power toward war.

Play asAustro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia, German Empire, Russian Empire, France and more
Map of Operation Barbarossa on the borders of the time
22 June 1941World War II

Operation Barbarossa

Three million Axis troops cross into the Soviet Union. Most of Europe is already under German control.

Play asGermany, USSR, United Kingdom, Italy, Empire of Japan and more
Map of Cuban Missile Crisis on the borders of the time
16 October 1962Cold War

Cuban Missile Crisis

U-2 photographs show Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, ninety miles from Florida, and Kennedy and Khrushchev have days to settle it short of nuclear war.

Play asUnited States, USSR, Cuba, United Kingdom, France and more
See every scenario

Order, advance, read

The Orders folder with the nation's standing, its objectives and this turn's orders

1 Give your orders

Type what you want done in your own words, with no menu of moves to pick from.

The Advance the clock folder: a week, a month, three months, six months, a year, or until the next major event

2 Advance the clock

Move on a week, a month or a year, or until something big happens, and every country acts in that time, not just yours.

The Events log: dated events, each with a headline and a paragraph of history

3 Read what happened

About ten events come back, told as history, and the map redraws borders, fronts and armies.

How it plays

Diplomacy by cable

Write to any leader. They answer in character, bargain, and send terms you can accept with one click.

Fair to the player

Big decisions land with real weight, and consequences match what you did: a limited move doesn't set off a world crisis.

Undo and history

Take back a turn, or slide back through the history to see the world on any earlier date.

Have a passcode?

Crown & Ballot is in private testing. If you were sent a passcode, you can start playing now.

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