---
id: naming-and-brand/002
title: Run the game-name poll
epic: naming-and-brand
state: needs-input
priority: 2
blocked_by: []
estimate: S
created: 2026-08-13
updated: 2026-08-13
claimed_by: null
claimed_at: null
delivers: []
review_artifact: null
---

## What to do

**This is a human task, assigned to Kris — not agent-executable.** It sits in `needs-input`
because the action itself (posting to Facebook, clicking through IP Australia's TM Checker,
registering a domain) is Kris's to take, not because it's blocked on anyone else's decision.

**Goal:** run a public poll (Facebook post to the warm network first) on the vetted name
shortlist, gather resonance data, then Kris makes the final title call.

### Poll slate

All fully-green vetted — see `brand/naming.md`'s "2026-08-13 shortlist" section for each name's
full sweep record:

- **Spellgrove** (current working title)
- **Cauldria**
- **Portilia**
- **Optional 4th: Rahlands** — only if the family-privacy question in
  `marketing-and-communication/CLAUDE.md` is resolved YES first.
- **Do not include Portalia in any slate containing Portilia** — recorded poll-design caution
  (`brand/naming.md`): voters hear them as one name.

### Pre-registered prediction (recorded 2026-08-13)

Kris predicts **Spellgrove** wins. Writing this down beforehand turns the poll into a real test —
a surprise result is high-value data, not a failure.

### Before the poll goes public (prerequisite human checks, ~15 min)

- IP Australia TM Checker/ATMOSS pass on the slate names, especially Spellgrove (same interactive
  process as [Q003](../questions/003-trademark-filing.md)'s LOR check — interactive, not
  agent-shortcuttable).
- App Store Connect name-availability check for Spellgrove.
- Domain check/registration for Spellgrove (spellgrove.com etc.).
- Handle pre-grab for all finalists: **not required** — Kris's explicit call, 2026-08-13
  (low-profile risk accepted: not enough of a following that announcing the shortlist risks
  someone grabbing the names). Planned handle pattern for the eventual winner:
  `@spellgrovegame`-style (bare `@spellgrove` on TikTok/YouTube is already held by individuals).

### Poll design notes

- Frame as "help us choose from our vetted shortlist" — community input, founder keeps the final
  call.
- Ask parents to run the recall test: "read these names to your kids, tell me tomorrow which one
  they remember." Next-day recall from kids is the strongest signal; adult votes measure
  engagement/politeness more than market fit. If adults and kids diverge, weight the kids' recall.
- The poll is also the first public build-in-public beat pre-Kickstarter — it has value
  independent of the vote counts.
- If/when community tooling gets built (deliberately deferred 2026-08-13 — an email service wired
  into the site's `betaFormEndpoint` etc.), an email-gated vote doubles as a mailing-list builder.
  Fine to run this first poll without it.

## Definition of done

The poll has been posted, resonance data (including kid-recall responses) has been gathered, and
Kris has recorded a final title decision — see the follow-ups below for what happens next.

## Follow-ups after the poll (spawn as separate tasks when reached, not now)

1. Kris makes and records the final title decision in `brand/naming.md` (closes the reopened-title
   note in `../overview.md`).
2. Create social accounts for the winning name (`@spellgrovegame` pattern, or the equivalent for
   whichever name wins).
3. Register the domain for the winning name (supersedes/joins [Q002](../questions/002-domain.md)).
4. If the winner is not the incumbent: propagate the new title through `brand/brand.json` (single
   propagation point) → site, UI, export presets (note: `export_presets.cfg` still carries a stale
   "Land of Lor") → the App Store Connect app-name field.
5. Vetting with Rah and more adults/children continues in parallel (already noted in
   `brand/naming.md`).

## Docs to read first

- `brand/naming.md` — full candidate record and the 2026-08-13 shortlist sweep.
- `../overview.md` — the reopened-title note.
- [Q003](../questions/003-trademark-filing.md) — the interactive ATMOSS-check precedent.
- `marketing-and-communication/CLAUDE.md` — family-privacy question gating Rahlands.

## Assumptions

- This task was requested directly (not self-generated) with full content specified; filed under
  `naming-and-brand` rather than a `marketing-and-communication` epic, since no such epic exists in
  `epics/` — `marketing-and-communication/` is a top-level, non-epic folder with its own plan/log
  convention, and this task is fundamentally a naming decision, which is squarely this epic's
  domain (see `brand/naming.md`, owned here).