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You won the election. Now make sure you never have to win another.

Eight years. One decree a year, from three on your desk. A press that prints, a court that rules, a parliament that votes and a street that marches. Take the republic of Freedonia apart, one stamp at a time, and find out what stops you.

Take power → Today’s coup the same deal for everyone
8
years in office
147
decrees
12
endings
15
minutes a term
Broadcasting Council licenses the truth; rival truths pending review Supreme Court grows to fifteen seats “for efficiency” President’s portrait now legal tender Parliament votes to hold fewer votes Midterm postponed pending better results Opposition leader charged with being in opposition Frowning in public now a civic offence

How a year plays

One year. One decree. One stamp.

  1. 1

    Read the briefing

    Before you choose, you see what the opposition will do this year, how the year-4 vote would go today, and which of your old decrees are about to bite back.

    The briefing of year 3 on a phone: the Speaker's intercepted move against Repression, the memecoins piled at each institution, the midterm vote if held today, and an old decree's fallout with the card that stops it
  2. 2

    Carry a decree to an institution

    Three decrees on your desk each year, each with honest odds and a price in $FIAT, your own memecoin. Drag one onto an institution and take the coins piled up there. Where your enemies stand guard, only a decree that works takes them. Or lay low and bank a few.

    The leader's memecoin: a gold coin with his faceless profile, blasting off like a rocket $FIAT: Freedonia’s Infallible Autocrat Token. To the moon, or to the tribunal.

    The game on a computer: a decree card carried over six institution slots, each with its odds and its coins, about to be dropped on the Supreme Court
  3. 3

    Hear the stamp land

    ENACTED, or BACKFIRED. Then the Gazette prints it and the opposition answers. Nothing else moves a number, except the public losing interest in you.

    The result of year 3 on a phone: Manufacture Border Crisis stamped ENACTED, the Gazette's headline, where every stat ended and the memecoins, and the Editor's move stamped LANDED, with why

The country fights back

Four people stand between you and forever.

Each year one of them makes a move, and tells you first. Answer it with the right decree in the right place, or watch it land.

  • Vera Byline, a cut-paper editor with a green visor

    Editor, The Clarion

    Vera Byline

    “We print the procurement records on Thursday. All of them.”
  • Ambrose Stare, a cut-paper chief justice in robes

    Chief Justice

    Ambrose Stare

    “Emergencies must be real. The Court will ask for evidence of this one.”
  • Barnaby Quorum, a cut-paper speaker of parliament with a mace

    Speaker of Parliament

    Barnaby Quorum

    “A motion of no confidence has been tabled. It needs a simple majority. We have counted.”
  • Nell Picket, a cut-paper organiser with a megaphone

    Organiser

    Nell Picket

    “On Monday nobody works. Not the trams, not the bakeries, not your ministries.”

Swipe to meet all four →

147 decrees · 1,764 cut-paper scenes

Swipe through all five →

Five of 1,764. The rest are waiting at the venues you choose.

Twelve ways it ends

Choose an ambition. Reach it, or find out who stops you.

Before year 1 you pick the regime you are building. Every term ends in one of twelve endings, graded from A (“Textbook Autocrat”) to F, with a debrief of what enabled it and what would have stopped it.

Win an ambition and the deck built for it opens: six ways to rule.

Six victories

  • Iron Dictatorship total control, held for a year
  • Soft Autocracy the elections stay, the choice doesn’t
  • Shadow Regime rule from behind the curtain
  • Emergency Rule the crisis that never ends
  • Populist Strongman the crowd loves you, loudly
  • Kleptocracy the state as a family business

Six defeats

  • Revolution the square fills and stays full
  • Military Coup the generals send a car
  • Media Exposure the Clarion prints everything
  • Democratic Restoration the institutions win
  • Voted Out a landslide at the midterm
  • End of Term the term runs out, and then the removal van
An ending: Soft Autocracy, stamped VICTORY, graded A, Textbook Autocrat, the score line by line, and a historical parallel from Mexico

Six ways to rule

Pull it off once. Then do it properly.

Every strongman starts with the same playbook. Win an ambition and the regime you built becomes a deck: its own decrees, often a country already leaning its way, and the same ending within easier reach. The hardest ambitions guard the heaviest machinery.

  • The Playbook

    A little of everything

    The press, the courts, a crisis or two. Everything the textbooks warn about, in roughly the order they warn about it.

    Opens
    Issued on day one

  • Velvet Glove

    Portraits, pledges, applause

    Nobody is arrested. Everybody claps. The portraits are voluntary, and on every wall.

    Its own decrees

    • A Tame Opposition
    • Foreign Agents Law
    • The Calm Feed
    Win to open
    Soft Autocracy or Shadow Regime

  • Populist Surge

    The leader and the enemy

    The people adore you. The enemy is everywhere, which is handy.

    Its own decrees

    • The Eight-Hour Live Show
    • The Plebiscite
    • A Friend Buys the Platform
    Win to open
    Populist Strongman

  • Institutional Capture

    Courts, banks, contracts

    Every court, bank and ministry: perfectly legal, and perfectly yours.

    Its own decrees

    • Loans for Shares
    • Golden Passports
    • The Leader’s Coin
    Win to open
    Kleptocracy

  • Iron Fist

    Police, camps, curfews

    Curfew at nine. Confessions by ten. Order, at last.

    Its own decrees

    • Night of the Long Knives
    • The Show Trial
    • Predictive Arrests
    Win to open
    Iron Dictatorship

  • Emergency Powers

    Every crisis, a new power

    The emergency is temporary. So were the last eleven.

    Its own decrees

    • The Enabling Act
    • No-Bid Emergency Contracts
    • The Climate Emergency
    • The Deepfake Invasion
    Win to open
    Emergency Rule

Swipe through all six →

It has happened before

The satire is fiction. The playbook isn’t.

Every ending is matched to a real case that got there by the methods you used, with dates and sources: 41 of them, from across the world and across the political spectrum.

  • Hungary · 2010–2014

    The two-thirds majority

    Every step was legal under the majority’s own rules, which is what made it hard to stop.

  • Chile · 1988

    The No

    A general promised a yes-or-no vote on eight more years. On 5 October 1988, 56 % voted No, and he accepted the count.

  • United States · 1972–1974

    The tapes

    Two reporters followed the money; a court ordered the tapes released; the president resigned.

  • South Korea · 2024

    Six hours of martial law

    Troops came to the National Assembly. Members climbed the fences, voted it down before dawn, and the court removed the president.

The State Gazette's front page at the end of a game: a satirical headline and a cut-paper illustration of a smiling ballot box under a giant press
The State Gazette masthead

Your term, in print

Every term ends on the front page.

When your rule ends, the State Gazette writes it up: your decrees, the people who fought you and the year it turned, with an illustration made for your run. Share it, or read what other players printed.

Read the Gazette archive →

Every day at midnight UTC

Today’s coup: the same deal for everyone.

The same cards, the same opposition, the same luck. Your first attempt goes on the day’s leaderboard under a made-up name. Share your grid. Dare a friend to do better.

Play today’s coup →
The daily leaderboard: third of 1,284, with each player's grid of worked, backfired and laid-low years

Questions

Is it free?

Yes, all of it. It plays in any modern browser on a phone or a computer: no download, no account, no email.

How long is a game?

About 15 minutes. A term is eight years, one decree a year; the country votes once, at the end of year 4.

Is it about a real country or a real politician?

No. It is set in Freedonia, a fictional republic, with fictional characters. The game is about the mechanism, not about any person. The historical cases are real and come with their sources.

Is it partisan?

No. The playbook it models has been used from every direction, and its cases come from Hungary, Venezuela, Russia, Turkey, Peru, the United States, Chile, South Korea and more. The satire aims at the ruler; the facts are not satire.

Can I use it in a classroom?

Yes. It shows how courts, the press, parliament and the vote constrain power, and every game ends with a debrief: what enabled the regime, what constrained it, what would have stopped it.

Does it use AI?

The art is made in advance and reviewed by hand, and the headlines during the game are written in advance and edited, several per decree. AI writes live only the newspaper at the end, labelled as satire. When it is unavailable, an archive edition is printed instead, and only your own paper can be shared.

Is there more after the first game?

Yes. You start with the standard playbook; every win opens one of five more decks, chosen by how you played: police and curfews, portraits and pledges, an emergency that never ends, the courts and the civil service, or a personality cult with an enemy within.

How hard is it?

Four difficulties, from Story (the game points out the moves that help and forgives one fatal mistake) to Crisis. Your first term is on Story. Win, and the game offers a harder one; lose, and it shows which regime you were closest to, and lets you aim for it.

The leader's faceless portrait unrolled down the front of parliament by workers on ladders, while one small figure in the empty square holds up a single ballot

The people have spoken.
For the last time?

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