Politics & Governance
White House pulls Tetris-style border game
The White House pulled a Tetris-style game called “Build the Wall” from its online arcade on Tuesday, four days after The Tetris Company warned that it takes copyright infringement seriously.
The block-stacking game, subtitled “Zombie Border Siege,” told players to “protect the border from the coming horde.” It was no longer available on the White House arcade page on Tuesday. The White House did not immediately respond to AFP's question about why it was removed.
The Tetris Company told AFP on Friday that it had not helped create the game and had not licensed its brand or intellectual property for it. The company said it was reviewing the matter when asked whether it was considering legal action.
“At Tetris, we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them,” the company wrote on X. It added: “P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously.”
The White House arcade launched Thursday and drew condemnation over racist themes and questions about possible copyright violations. Its games and promotional clips included imagery resembling Sega, Microsoft-owned Xbox and the Flappy Bird Foundation. In one clip, letters resembling the Sega logo changed into MAGA, the acronym for President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan.
Other White House arcade games remained playable, including “Flappy Bill,” in which a bald eagle dodges columns against a Washington-like backdrop, and “Rio Run,” a Snake-style game themed on deportations.
The White House said Thursday that the administration was focused on ways to promote what it called the president's accomplishments. Trump campaigned on a promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants and has moved to speed deportations.
Update
The White House pulled the Tetris-style 'Build the Wall' game from its online arcade on Tuesday.
The game was no longer available on whitehouse.gov/arcade.
The White House did not immediately respond to AFP's question about why the game was removed.
Other games, including 'Flappy Bill' and 'Rio Run,' remained playable.
Source note: AFP news report published on 8 September 2026 at 19:17:28 UTC.
Update
Tetris said it was not involved in creating the Build the Wall game and did not authorize or license its brand or intellectual property for it.
Tetris said it was reviewing the matter.
Tetris said in a social media post that it takes copyright infringement seriously.
The item says White House promotional content also included images resembling trademarks and designs from Microsoft-owned Xbox; Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment and Sega could not immediately be reached.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 September 2026 at 23:21:08 UTC.
Update
A third game involves collecting nets to put in so-called Trump accounts, described as investment accounts with a $1,000 deposit for children born from 2025 through 2028.
Adriana Jasso of AMIGOS San Diego Community said the games showed a lack of seriousness and presented the issue as if it were a game.
The source version adds more detail on the White House's social media-style framing and past backlash over its use of artists' music.
Source note: AFP news report published on 3 September 2026 at 23:51:59 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The White House did not immediately explain why the game was removed.
The supplied information does not say whether The Tetris Company took legal action.
Source
AFP news report published on .