25 Days Until We Vote is a project supported by the Electoral Commission. It is an adventure through elections: seven puzzles and two role play games, all contained in a single deck of cards.
The aim of 25 Days Until We Vote is to give young people confidence around both voting and registering to vote. In England young people can register to vote at 16, and actually cast their vote when they are 18. However, people aged 18-24 are under-registered and many do not use their vote.
The Electoral Commission oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. It has provided support for Dissent Games to create 25 Days Until We Vote, print 250 copies, and send them to schools and Sixth Forms. It is a pilot project to consider whether games and puzzles can increase the confidence of young voters and those who will be eligible to vote in the next few years. We are interested in whether people aged 16-18 enjoy playing 25 Days Until We Vote and whether it has opened up discussions around elections.
You may be thinking “yes, but what is it?” 25 Days Until We Vote is a pack of 54 poker-sized playing cards in a tuck box. That’s the usual number of cards for a deck of cards, and the usual size. However, the cards do not have the usual suits of diamonds and spades. Instead they tell a story in which you (the players of the game) have recently taken a job in the Electoral Services department at the local Council. Each card tells you a little bit more story, and then asks you to solve a puzzle. The puzzles are similar to the sorts you might see on the puzzle pages of a newspaper: number puzzles, logic puzzles, or word puzzles. Each generally takes around three or four minutes to solve. After the puzzles then there is a role playing game in which one person needs to direct another person using fragments of a map, and another role playing game in one person is the newly-elected MP and the other people are local residents.
It takes between 45 and 75 minutes to play all the puzzles and games. They don’t all need to be played in order, or in one go. Larger groups might want to break into pairs to play the puzzles simultaneously.
All the instructions are contained in the 54 cards in the deck! It can be played straight out of the pack, and then put back again for another group to play. Nothing else is needed, although we do recommend having pen and paper to hand.
Can we playtest it?
Yes! You can play the puzzle section online here. It takes between 15 and 30 minutes.
If you’d like a physical pack of cards (completely free) then you can sign up to playtest as a school, sixth form, or organised group. The games will be sent out via Royal Mail at the start of February 2025, and should ideally be played by a group of people aged 16-18 during February and March. Sign up here to playtest as a group!
We’d love to hear from you if:
- You can play the game with at least two people aged 16-18
- You are able to play and give us feedback during February or March 2025
You might be a teacher with a class of 30 students, or a small group of friends. You do not need to know anything about politics or to have any experience with puzzles. Whatever your group looks like, we would be very grateful for you to test 25 Days Until We Vote.
We played it. Where do I leave feedback?
Thank you! Please fill in our survey.
Can I download extra copies of the puzzles?
Yes. You can use the puzzles and share them with others. If you have a class of students, you could print these out. Choose a link below to download PDFs in an A4 format.
Dissent 