elect.horse launches as apparent copy of gerrymandle.com puzzle game
A new daily puzzle game sparks accusations of copying from gerrymandle.com's developer and community.
What to know
- elect.horse launched Oct. 30 as a daily puzzle game about electoral gerrymandering, quickly drawing accusations of copying gerrymandle.com's mechanics and interface.
- gerrymandle.com's developer stated enclose.horse's current owners had previously tried to buy his game; he now claims elect.horse mimics it down to 'weird UI choices' and uses LLM-generated text.
- Players who use both games report the resemblance damages their view of enclose.horse and has prompted some to stop playing, though one former regular notes enclose.horse had already declined in quality.
The dispute Whether elect.horse's imitation is damaging enough to warrant concern given that enclose.horse had already lost players to quality decline, or whether it is merely routine game copying in an era of AI. · positions read across 16 posts and comments
elect.horse is a shameless copy that damages the credibility of enclose.horse and disrespects gerrymandle.com's creator.
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“Enclose horse was a big inspiration for me, since it's such an elegant game. So I'm very sad to see that they have decided to copy my game.”
realmofthemad · Hacker News ↗
Game copying is now trivial and routine due to AI; while a cheap move, it shouldn't significantly harm gerrymandle.com's audience.
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“FWIW, imitation is flattery -- enclose.horse is done, I left the daily game weeks ago after they started phoning in slop daily designs. This is a cheap move but it shouldn't make a difference to your audience.”
spopejoy · Hacker News ↗
The puzzle game itself is engaging and worth playing regardless of its origins.
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“This was incredibly fun and rewarding, I spent a really long time on the expert puzzle and eventually solved it. I really like that you can use some kinds of deductive logic, as well as trial and error as well!”
logicallee · Hacker News ↗
realmofthemad gerrymandle.com developerEnclose.horse owners Owners of enclose.horse, operators of elect.horse
How it unfolded 5 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump postscomments
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5
Commentary on originality and market saturation
A former enclose.horse player notes the original game had already declined in quality ('phoning in slop daily designs') before the alleged copy launched, suggesting elect.horse's imitation may not meaningfully harm the original.
“enclose.horse is done, I left the daily game weeks ago after they started phoning in slop daily designs. This is a cheap move but it shouldn't make a difference to your audience.”
— spopejoy -
It's a stretch for you to say that you gave your own spin to the NYT article. It is identical. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/politics/congres...You did a fantastic job with gerrymandle, but elect.horse has a cozy little story line and way different look to it, albeit the same game mechanics.
2 more of the top 3 · 3 posts in this stretch
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FWIW, imitation is flattery -- enclose.horse is done, I left the daily game weeks ago after they started phoning in slop daily designs. This is a cheap move but it shouldn't make a difference to your audience.
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Saw your post on Reddit and the positive feedback. Unfortunately in a world of AI, it's trivially easy to copy a game concept.
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4
Players explore game mechanics and UX issues
Comments surface both gameplay questions (confusion about winning conditions, color visibility between horse and donkey) and positive reactions to the puzzle mechanics, with some noting the competitive scoring system is weaker than enclose.horse's approach.
“Enclose horse was a big inspiration for me, since it's such an elegant game. So I'm very sad to see that they have decided to copy my game.”
— realmofthemad, gerrymandle.com developer · source -
Hello, I am the developer of gerrymandle.com.A few months ago I received an email from the current owner of enclose horse, inquiring if I was willing to sell gerrymandle. I was not interested.Enclose horse was a big inspiration for me, since it's such an elegant game. So I'm very sad to see that they have decided to copy my game.I know that…
2 more of the top 3 · 7 posts in this stretch
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I honestly don't get today's expert puzzle. When you start, horse is at 8, donkey is at 10, and cow is at 14. I get two districts for horse, which the puzzle then states "horse wins," but wouldn't the final standing then behorse: 10, donkey: 10, cow: 14So cow still wins? Why did it say horse wins on the "See results" screen?
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Fun! One less than intuitive piece is that, as far as the game is concerned, evenly dividing a district 50-50 stops that district from counting toward anyone's majority.So if Blue was only present in a single district where its the majority, you could have ten more districts all evenly tied between Purple and Orange, and Blue would still win.
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3
Regular players express disappointment and withdrawal
Users who play both games report the resemblance damages their respect for enclose.horse, with one daily player saying the apparent imitation makes them 'less inclined to continue playing enclose.horse,' comparing it to joke-stealing among comedians.
“It's akin to joke stealing among comedians. It makes you lose respect for the joke stealer, even if their original stuff is good.”
— jawns -
I am a big fan of both enclose.horse and gerrymandle.com. I play both daily.But this rip-off of gerrymandle.com makes me feel less inclined to continue playing enclose.horse.And yes, it is a rip-off, not merely a riff on the general puzzle game of this type.It's akin to joke stealing among comedians. It makes you lose respect for the joke stealer…
1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
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Competitve side is much weaker than in enclose.horse, this game only measures hints used.
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2
Developer alleges elect.horse copies gerrymandle.com
The developer of gerrymandle.com revealed in a comment that enclose.horse's owners had previously inquired about buying gerrymandle but were refused. He now claims elect.horse is a near-identical copy of his game, including 'weird UI choices' and 'transparently LLM-generated' text, with minimal additions beyond reskinning and ads.
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enclose.horse was sold off not too long after it was published. The new owners now seem to be doing a shameless cash grab, ripping off gerrymandle.com 1:1, down to some particularly weird UI choices, and the text copy is transparently LLM-generated. It would be one thing if they added some kind of improvement or unique take, but reskinning (with…
1 more of the top 2 · 4 posts in this stretch
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It's fun but I can barely see the difference between the horse and donkey colors which makes it really hard.
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1
elect.horse launches as daily puzzle game
elect.horse, a puzzle game about electoral districts and gerrymandering, goes live on Hacker News with significant early engagement (555 points, 154 comments).
What people are saying 3 voices from 1 site · best of 16 · verbatim
- What exactly did enclose.horse's owners change from gerrymandle.com beyond reskinning and adding ads?
- Why did enclose.horse's current owners seek to buy gerrymandle.com if they planned to copy it anyway?
- Oct 30
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is this supposed to hard, because it was. and i don't know how i feel about that
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I love daily games. https://maptap.gg/ is my personal favorite! I love the author's little notes and asides as he discusses fun facts from around the world.
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This was incredibly fun and rewarding, I spent a really long time on the expert puzzle and eventually solved it. I really like that you can use some kinds of deductive logic, as well as trial and error as well! Very very fun.