Learn the presidents. Then step in the ring with them.

POTUS KO is a presidents game where knowing your U.S. history is how you win. The questions you get right make your fighter stronger, the facts you learn about a president tell you how to beat them, and every win puts their story in your binder. It’s studying, with a scoreboard.

Click to download on Android

On Google Play now. iPhone is right behind it.

  • Free with ads. $1.99 once turns them off for good.
  • Never an ad in the middle of a fight or while you’re studying.
  • 39 presidents, Washington through Reagan. Made for 13 and up.
  • Works offline. It only goes online for an ad.
The Southpaw
Abraham Lincoln

The history is how you win

  • Answers are power

    Right answers in the gym raise your stats and teach you new styles. No grinding and no tapping faster. Just knowing stuff.

  • Facts are intel

    Lincoln wrestled on the frontier, so he comes at you all fight looking for a hold. Scout him and you’ll know Judo turns that grab into your throw.

  • Stories stick

    Win, and the president goes in your binder with the stories behind them, each one tagged Record or Legend so you know which famous ones hold up.

  • Losing teaches too

    Lose, and the game tells you which intel card would have changed it. Go scout, come back, try again. It costs nothing.

How a bout works

The gym makes you stronger. Strength gets you a chance. The plan wins the fight.

  1. Hit the gym

    Answer U.S. history questions to build your Power, Speed and Stamina, and to learn new fighting styles. Every stage raises how strong you can get.

  2. Scout the president

    Now the questions are about who you’re fighting. Each right answer opens an intel card: their style, then their plan for each round, then their weak spot.

  3. Set your game plan

    Pick one of five styles and an approach: pressure, counter or outlast. Every style beats two and loses to two, so the intel matters.

  4. Fight three rounds

    No button mashing. Between rounds your corner tells you what they did, and you decide whether to stick with the plan or change it up.

Every win goes in the binder

Beat a president and their card goes in your binder: the regal portrait on the front, the fight-ready version on the back. Inside are their vitals, what they cared about, and the stories that explain how they’d fight.

Some famous stories didn’t happen the way people tell them. So every story is tagged Record, meaning it’s documented, or Legend, meaning it gets told a lot and doesn’t hold up. Here’s part of Lincoln’s page.

It isn’t a politics game. The binder covers what each president did and cared about, not whether you should like them. Where a record includes slavery or a policy that hurt people, it says so in one plain line.

Read the presidents’ binder pages
From the binder
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Honest Abe

16th president · 1861-1865 · Illinois

Fighting style Frontier wrestling (historians disagree on exactly which style)

Why he could fight

  • RecordAround 1831 in New Salem, Illinois, young Lincoln wrestled Jack Armstrong, the leader of a rough local crew. Accounts disagree about who won. They ended up friends.
  • LegendYou’ll read that Lincoln wrestled about 300 matches and lost once. The one loss comes from his own telling, to a man named Hank Thompson in 1832. The 300 number isn’t documented anywhere.
  • RecordLincoln is the only president with a patent. In 1849 he patented a device for lifting boats over shallow water.

Did you know? Lincoln is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. It honored him as an Outstanding American in 1992.

Read all of Lincoln’s page

Who’s waiting for you

Ten of the thirty-nine, from George Washington to John F. Kennedy. Tap a card to flip it and see them ready to fight.

Five stages, one final boss

The ladder is a pyramid: ten presidents on the first stage, then nine, eight and seven, and five at the top. Each stage has its own venue and a champion who opens the next one. The last man standing is George Washington.

  1. Stage 5White House South Lawn5 presidentsAndrew JacksonAbraham LincolnTheodore RooseveltJohn F. KennedyGeorge Washington
  2. Stage 4Army Base Ring7 presidents
  3. Stage 3Big-City Arena8 presidents
  4. Stage 2Riverboat Deck9 presidents
  5. Stage 1County Fair10 presidents

A new bout every day

The Daily Bout

After your first ladder win, there’s a fresh bout every day. Same president, same five questions and same dice for everybody, so you can see who did it best.

Share how you did

Your result goes out as a row of squares, never the answers, so it doesn’t spoil anybody’s day. Win a new binder card and you can share that too, with a fact about the president on it.

Pick your fighter

Nine fighters, all starting even. Pick the one that looks like you, or the one that looks like trouble.

  • The Rookie
  • The Bookworm
  • The Southpaw
  • The Farmhand
  • The Night Owl
  • The Captain
  • The Physicist
  • The Surfer
  • The Spartan

POTUS KO is made by Pettigrew Lab, a family-run studio. Our kids got a vote on the art, including FDR’s: he fights from his wheelchair, fists up.

Questions people ask

How much does it cost?

It’s free with ads. A one-time $1.99 turns them off for good.

Where do the ads show up?

After a fight’s result, never after your first fight of a session, and no more than one every three minutes. Never during a fight, and never while you’re studying.

Who is it for?

Anyone 13 and up. The questions run from advanced middle school to high school U.S. history, so it works for a student studying and for a grown-up checking what they still remember.

Will it help with a U.S. history class?

It covers the 39 presidents from Washington through Reagan, at about an advanced middle school to high school level. Think of it as a presidents quiz with a reason to get the answer right, not a replacement for class.

Is it just presidents trivia?

No. The trivia is the training. You answer questions to get stronger and to scout, but the fight is decided by the plan you build from what you learned.

Does it need the internet?

No. Everything’s on the phone. It only goes online to show an ad.

Is it violent?

It’s a sport. Every fight is a sanctioned bout with a ring and a ref, the presidents look formidable, and nobody gets hurt. No blood, no injuries.

Is it political?

No. It covers what each president did and cared about, not whether you should like them. Where a record includes slavery or a policy that hurt people, the binder says so plainly.

Why does it stop at Reagan?

We wanted presidents whose time in office is history now, not the news. So the roster runs from Washington, the 1st, through Reagan, the 40th.

Is it on iPhone?

Android comes first, and iPhone is right behind it. Tap Tell me when it’s out and we’ll email you when it lands.

More history, different sport

Once Upon a Snap is our football game where Napoleon, Blackbeard and Sherlock Holmes suit up for the same team on a $15 budget.

See Once Upon a Snap