The Best Campaign Trail Mods
The Campaign Trail is a game where you try to win various presidential elections throughout history (photo: Campaign Trail Showcase)
The Campaign Trail is a free browser game that allows you to play as candidates in various presidential elections in U.S. history by answering a series of multiple-choice questions. How you answer these questions determines the outcome of the election. In addition to the 14 elections for which there are official games on The New Campaign Trail website, there are a multitude of player-made mods that can be found in both the mod loader on The New Campaign Trail and on the website Campaign Trail Showcase. These mods explore not only historical elections, but also alternate history scenarios and international elections. Here are some of the best Campaign Trail mods:
Best Historical Mod: All The Way
Due to the inherent nature of The Campaign Trail, all historical mods could technically become alternate history mods depending on how players answer the questions. One mod for which this is particularly true is All The Way. In this mod, players must guide Lyndon Baines Johnson through the tumultuous year of 1968. As LBJ, players must decide whether to escalate the war in Vietnam or try to achieve peace, and how much they will continue to push for civil rights and the Great Society while also deciding whether or not to run for reelection. In addition to choosing to run for reelection, there are other ways in which this historical mod can diverge from history. Martin Luther King jr and Robert F. Kennedy could survive their assassination attempts, and as LBJ, players can choose to replace Hubert Humphrey with a different running mate.
Best Alternate History Mod: Things That Never Were
While there are many Campaign Trail mods that explore alternate timelines, including scenarios where the 9/11 attacks never happened and where the United States became communist, the best one has to be the aptly-titled Things That Never Were. In this alternate history mod, Robert Kennedy is not assassinated during the primaries and instead goes on to win the Democratic nomination and 1968 presidential election. As President Robert Kennedy, players must navigate a reelection campaign in 1972 and determine whether or not they will uphold the progressive ideals of Kennedy’s 1968 campaign. Presented as a stage play (complete with songs from the Stephen Sondheim musical Company), Things That Never Were is perhaps one of the most creative, immersive and ambitious Campaign Trail mods.
Best International Mod: Germany 2021- Between Decades
While most Campaign Trail mods focus on U.S. elections, there are several mods that apply the Campaign Trail format to international elections. The most popular of these international mods, and one of the most innovative and impressive of all Campaign Trail mods is Germany 2021 - Between Decades. Applying the mechanics of The Campaign Trail to a European multi-party parliamentary election, Germany 2021 - Between Decades allows players to choose from Germany’s three most popular political parties, the Christian Democratic Union, Social Democratic Party, and Green Party. Unlike in most Campaign Trail mods where there is only one presidential candidate for each party, Germany 2021- Between Decades has two parliamentary candidate choices within each party. Instead of a U.S. electoral map, results appear on a map of Germany’s 16 states.
Best Mod Series: Red (1948, 1952, and 1956)
Several Campaign Trail mods have sequels which advance the alternate histories created in the initial mod. The alternate timeline where John F. Kennedy is not assassinated as laid out in 1964: Viva Kennedy is continued in 1968: Viva Kennedy, which envisions JFK being a two-term president. The bleak events of Midnight 1964 lead to the even more disturbing Midnight 1965 (the less that is said about that mod, the better). By far, the most extensive mod series is Red, wherein FDR kept Henry Wallace as his running mate in 1944, leading Wallace to assume the presidency after FDR’s death. In this alternate history, Henry Wallace decides to invade Japan rather than use the atomic bombs, leading to a much longer war in the Pacific, which exacerbates tensions in East Asia. In 1948 Red, a deeply unpopular Henry Wallace, must run for reelection against Republican Harold Stassen. In its two sequels, 1952 Red and 1956 Red, President Stassen and his Vice President William Knowland contend with inter-party opposition from virulently anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Best Third Party Candidate Mod: 1972: Old Left, New World
While most Campaign Trail mods only allow players to choose between Democrats and Republicans, several mods allow players to be third party candidates. These include everyone from Strom Thurmond and George Wallace to Robert LaFollette and Ralph Nader, or, in the case of 1972: Old Left, New World, Communist Party candidate Gus Hall. In this mod, players must attempt to balance support from the party’s labor union base with that of student activists, Black power groups, and the anti-war movement. Possible running mates include activist Angela Davis (despite the fact that she would have only been 28 at the time, and thus not eligible to be vice president), and actress Jane Fonda (despite the fact that she isn’t even a communist). While it is almost impossible to win an electoral victory in this mod, the objective is to garner enough popular votes to show that the Communist Party has grassroots support.