The White House has launched arcade.gov, a website featuring five retro-style video games built around President Trump's policy priorities, from border security to a child savings program. The games went live Thursday, Sept. 4, and are free to play at whitehouse.gov/arcade, with each one modeled after a familiar classic arcade or mobile title from decades past.

Five Games, Five Talking Points

"Build the Wall" borrows its look from Tetris, tasking players with stacking border wall sections to "protect the border from the coming horde." "Rio Run," styled after the mobile game Snake, has players gathering and moving figures depicted in orange jumpsuits along a grid representing the Rio Grande, with border czar Tom Homan appearing in the game as the character leading them.

"Supply Line" plays like the arcade game Tapper, having players sort school lunch items on a conveyor belt and reject ones that don't fit the administration's "Make America Healthy Again" standards.

"Flappy Bill" is a Flappy Bird-style game in which a bald eagle carries a piece of legislation across the National Mall, dodging obstacles along the way in a nod to the original mobile game's tap-to-fly mechanic.

Rounding out the lineup is "Trump Savings Tycoon," which has players collecting falling cash and gold bars to fill their kids' Trump Accounts, the administration's savings program that deposits $1,000 into tax-advantaged accounts for eligible children born during Trump's term, with funds becoming available at age 18 for education, a home purchase or starting a business.

"Policy You Can Interact With"

The White House announced the games on social media with animations parodying classic gaming console logos, including converting the word "Sega" into "MAGA." Deputy Assistant Kaelan Dorr described the project as "policy you can interact with." Separately, a White House official said the administration was "laser focused" on new ways to showcase its accomplishments, framing the arcade as a contrast between a "culture of fun and winning" and what they characterized as Democrats' "dark socialist vision."

A Trademark Dispute Over Tetris

The Tetris Company was quick to distance itself from "Build the Wall." "The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of 'Build the Wall,'" the company said in a statement, adding that it takes "copyright infringement very seriously."

The company also noted that the actual object of Tetris is to prevent stacked blocks from forming unbroken walls, adding that the game "has brought people together across generations" since its original release decades ago. It said it was reviewing the matter further, though it has not said what action, if any, it plans to take against the White House over the game.

Democrats and Advocates Push Back

Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the advocacy group Frontera Federation, said in a statement that "they've been playing games with people's lives for years, now they've made a video game of what they're doing," criticizing the arcade's treatment of deportations. Democratic lawmakers raised similar objections over timing and priorities. Rep. Ted Lieu pointed to rising gas prices as a sign of misplaced focus, posting that "November is coming" in reference to the midterm elections, and Texas Rep. Jessica González said the administration built the games "before doing anything to solve America's affordability crisis." Neither the White House nor the games' critics have indicated whether the arcade will be updated or expanded with additional titles going forward, and it's unclear how many people have played the games since the site first went live.

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