The Tetris knockoff “Build the Wall” is one of six new games hosted on the White House website.
The Tetris company did not participate in the Trump administration’s new immigration project. Build the wall game, according to a post on the Tetris Instagram account. The game is one of six new arcade titles released Thursday by the White House and clearly meant to be a clone of Tetris.
“At Tetris, we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together,” the company’s message reads. “To our fans around the world: we love you, we see you, and we are grateful to have you in our community.” In the Instagram post’s description, The Tetris Company goes on to emphasize that it “was not involved in the creation of Build the wall” and that it “takes copyright infringement very seriously.”
Build the wall tasks players with stacking and inserting falling bricks into a slow-growing wall, much like Tetris. The only difference is that successfully completing a line of bricks does not eliminate them from the board, and instead the wall only grows larger in hopes of fending off an oncoming “zombie horde”. If the title wasn’t clear enough, the wall’s location near an ill-defined “southern border” suggests that Build the wall‘s anti-immigration stance is quite explicit. Building a wall across the entire U.S.-Mexico border has been a shared policy goal during President Donald Trump’s two terms in office and still ongoing.
When Woozad asked The Tetris Company for comment, it reiterated that it was not involved in the creation of the game and “did not authorize or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property” for Build the wall. “For over 40 years, Tetris has brought people of all generations and cultures together through play and joy. The goal of the game has always been to stack with the goal of clearing as many lines as possible. We are currently looking into the matter.”
While strange in the context of the US presidency, releasing a collection of browser games is consistent with the Trump administration’s approach to online communications and its disregard for copyright. The White House and other government agencies have attempted to maintain an online presence that biases gaming knowledge, such as the use of Halo memes to promote ICE recruiting. These baiting attempts by imitating pop culture – or outright using an artist’s music without a license – have also often led to DMCA takedowns. Since Tetris isn’t the only property the White House is stealing, it’s possible all of these browser games could meet a similar fate.
