Kamergotchi: What’s all the fuss about?

As expats, many of you won’t be able to vote in the Netherlands, but it’s likely the March elections have come up at some point, either in conversation with colleagues, flicking through TV channels or reading the news.

Now, we were all very much involved in America’s election, and most of us will remember the infamous America First, the Netherlands Second video from Zondag met Lubach. Well, guess what, he’s come up with another genius joke to help get everyone involved in the Dutch elections.

Kamergotchi (Cabinetgotchi) is an app created by the Zondag met Lubach team in order to help people feel more connected to the politicians that are currently running in the elections. The app is free to download on your phone, and it allows you to take care of a politician. That means you have to feed it, love it and give it ideas. If you fail to do so, it will whither and die, and you will be given the option to “hatch” another politician. There are 19 politicians in total.

It doesn’t stop there. If you manage to look after your politician well enough to keep it alive up to the election date, you can head over to kamergotchi.nl, enter the competition ranking and whoever makes it to the top spot, will win tickets to a Zondag met Lubach show. 

The app has been so successful that it has spread far and wide and even gotten attention from other countries. Lubach will be appearing on the BBC in the UK and other regional shows in Japan and Russia.