(Crowdfund Quest) Poll & Write Clacton

With the Clacton by-election making headlines, Samphire Games has launched a timely print-and-play crowdfunding campaign that turns the political contest into a light-hearted tabletop experience.

Poll & Write Clacton is a competitive roll-and-write game inspired by the unusual 2026 Clacton by-election, in which Count Binface and Nigel Farage are battling it out in one of the UK’s most closely watched and talked about political contests since Andy Burnham’s election in June. Rather than attempt to simulate real-world politics in depth, the game leans into the campaigns satirical side, with players drafting dice and claiming areas as they battle for electoral dominance.

Poll & Write Clacton is the latest in a series of Poll & Write games, with previous ones being Poll & Write USA (1-2 players rerun the 2024 presidential election), Poll & Write 2024 (UK Edition) (a game for 1-7 players competing to form the next UK government), and Poll & Write 2019: The Brexit Election (where 1-6 players decided the fate of the UK and get Brexit done - or not!).

Why should I back Poll & Write Clacton?

• Roll & write with player interaction – with area control and spiky tactics, Poll & Write will have you cursing each other for stealing this or that voter – hopefully in good humor!

• Play on election night – back now and you'll receive the game in time to play on election night! There will be a backer-only update – make sure you're logged in to see it!

• A tight two-player competitive game – it took some iteration to arrive at this version of Poll & Write – a streamlined experience where every decision counts. 

• Truly captures electoral strategy – this is a game that has you thinking about voter demographics, where to focus your energy, and which voters you need in order to win. 

• A new spin on Poll & Write – if you're familiar with the game, the premise and turn structure will be familiar (most similar to Poll & Write USA), but the challenge of designing the game to fit a single constituency means the strategy is different. The countdown which adds a new sense of urgency, while adjacency models the connections between voters and gives new combo options!

How to play

Poll & Write Clacton takes the basic premise of the original Poll & Write (the UK edition) and streamlines the gameplay for two players. 

🎲 Draft your dice: One player rolls three dice, and chooses one die to keep for themselves. The other player then similarly picks from the remaining two, with the final one being available to both players as a shared die. Each die is a different colour which relates to types of voters; the values (1–6) allow you to target younger and older voters. 

There's only one blue 6 voter left, so I should take that one. If I leave it it'll surely be the shared one which Nigel will use before I can to claim that old lady. 

❓ Pick your voters: Each player then uses the colour and values on the dice to claim voters across the Clacton. 

⚡ Activate your Powers: There's something else you can do with those dice. Use them to activate powers for later – or even to manipulate dice immediately!

I could use the 4 and 6 to finish off Britain Needs Reform, which seems really powerful. Or I could grab those two voters with them. What to do? 

⏰ Countdown to Bin Day: The shared die value contributes to the Countdown to Bin Day - each unique value adds a token to the Countdown until all are complete and the final turn is triggered. Alternatively the game ends when one player has a majority of the voters of Clacton!

The game has a quick campaign and will be fulfilled to all backers before 13th August 2026 (the polling day in Clacton) so you can play it on election night.

Poll & Write Clactonis currently funding on Kickstarter with the campaign finishing on Wednesday 12th August 2026.