The White House has sparked criticism after launching retro-style arcade games on its website, including titles that focus on immigration enforcement and portray migrants as monsters.
The arcade, added to the White House website on Thursday, includes the games "Rio Run," "Build the Wall," "Flappy Bill," "Supply Line," "Trump Savings Tycoon" and an unreleased "new adventure." The games were promoted on the White House X/Twitter account with the message "Can't stop winning."
Games Focus on Border and Immigration
Two of the games, "Build the Wall" and "Rio Run," focus on illegal immigration. "Build the Wall," based on Tetris, tasks players with gathering migrants to deport, while "Rio Run," inspired by the mobile game Snake, instructs players to "protect the border from the coming horde" and "patrol along the Rio Grande." The games also involve protecting the southern border with Mexico from being "breached" by pixel art monsters.
Other games include "Flappy Bill," a parody of "Flappy Bird" where players guide a bald eagle through pipes toward Congress in Washington DC, and "Trump Savings Tycoon," which promotes the Trump Accounts for children by asking players to fill the accounts. The last currently available game, "Supply Line," tasks players with sorting school lunch items and promotes the "Make America Healthy Again" policy.
Social Media Reaction
The post sharing the link to the arcade has been viewed 8.9 million times since being shared late on September 3. While some viewers found the arcade content "funny," many others took to social media to criticize the decision, citing a lack of empathy and questioning whether it represented value for taxpayers.
X/Twitter user @volcaholic1 said: "OMG. This is evil. The White House has launched an online arcade gamifying the deportation of human beings. Stacking blocks in 'Build the Wall' or playing 'Rio Run' to round up migrants. Disgusting."
User @watlio added: "Look, I'm the most pro-Trump millennial you'll ever meet, but this shows some extreme lack of tact by the people manning the White House account. 95 per cent of people watching this don't know this was likely vibe coded by a nerd off the clock in just a few hours. The average person will fairly ask how much money we as taxpayers wasted on this - a valid question."
User @psyshockgame said: "Oh look, another distraction. An using licensed music again with cheap knock offs of existing franchises. This is what the Trump administration wastes its time on. This is what they've reduced us to."
Previous Viral Attempts
This is the latest White House attempt at viral posting while using content from famous video games. In June, the White House uploaded a parody of the video game Persona 5, and in March the Pokémon company condemned it for using imagery from the popular franchise.
The Mirror has contacted the White House for comment.
