White House pulls “Build the Wall” game after Tetris backlash

The White House has quietly removed the Build the Wall game from its arcade website.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration launched a gaming website featuring duplicates of 5 classic arcade games.

One of the games was Rio Run, where you play as a border patrol officer whose job is to deport as many illegal immigrants who entered the US as he can.

One quick peek and you’ll immediately know this is a rip-off of Nokia’s mobile game Snake. That didn’t stop the government from releasing the game anyway.

Another classic game on the White House’s arcade website was Build the Wall, where players had to build a wall using Tetris-shaped blocks and mechanics to protect the US from hordes of zombies coming from Mexico.

The Tetris Company, the official company responsible for managing and licensing the Tetris game, wasn’t thrilled when it first saw the game on the White House’s arcade website.

“At Tetris, we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them,” the company said about the Trump administration’s appropriation of the game.

Although Build the Wall wasn’t an exact copy of Tetris, the Tetris Company emphasized that it had no involvement in the creation of the game, adding that it takes copyright infringement seriously.

Apparently, that hit a nerve with the White House. A few days after the Tetris Company complained about Build the Wall, the game was taken offline.

Gamers visiting the arcade website can now play only 4 games: Flappy Bill, Rio Run, Supply Line, and Trump Savings Tycoon.

Entering the URL for Build the Wall will show a 404 error page.

Don’t worry, according to the site, “a new adventure awaits,” with no further details. It says that this new adventurous game is “coming soon.”

Kotaku was the first news outlet to spot that Build the Wall was no longer online.