Goodbye, Build the Wall. The Tetris-style game that the US government had stuck on the White House website as a way of promoting the Trump administration’s commitment to brutalising and persecuting immigrants in the name of securing borders. After the Tetris Company hinted that they might be eyeing legal action, Build the Wall is gone, replaced by a far more palatable 404 error message.
As spotted by This Week in Videogames, the arcade section of the White House’s website now only houses Trumpy parody games Flappy Bill, Rio Run, Supply Line, and Trump Savings Tycoon. There’s also a placeholder for a mystery game teased as coming soon, but no Build the Wall, a game in which – as Edwin reported yesterday – you stack bricks along “the Southern border” in order to repel invading zombies.
The Tetris Company distanced themselves from Build the Wall late last week, writing: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, and see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community.” The company added that they weren’t involved in the creation of Build the Wall and that they “take copyright infringement very seriously”.
One would assume that set off alarm bells at Trump towers, leading to the quiet pulling of Build the Wall. So, you’re out of luck if for whatever terrible reason you’re desperate to play that classic game reskinned to push the policy ideas of a man who – among a bunch of much more serious and harrowing transgressions – is determined to pretend he gives a shit about motor racing series which I wish were run by people who didn’t fraternise with his kind.
For now, you can still play the other parody games on the White House site, such as Flappy Bird but with a bald eagle because America. Given the same regime have previously promoted mass detention with Halo memes, one would assume this won’t be the last time they try to invoke video games as part of their propagansising.
