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White House Removes 'Build the Wall' Game After Tetris Warning
Confirmed
In Short: The White House has taken down a controversial Tetris-style game from its website after The Tetris Company raised concerns over its use of the game's likeness.
The White House has removed a Tetris-style game called "Build the Wall" from its website, following a warning from The Tetris Company. The game, which saw players stack blocks to build a wall to "protect the border," is one of five arcade games that have appeared on the White House website. Tetris Company posted on its social media account that it was not involved in the creation of the game and took copyright infringement very seriously.
According to reports, the White House has not provided an official reason for the takedown. The removal of the game comes days after The Tetris Company issued a statement, saying, "At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them." The game's removal is seen as a response to the company's concerns, as it aligns with the company's mission to promote unity and connection through its iconic game.
The White House's arcade section, which includes games like "Rio Run" and "Supply Line," has drawn criticism from politicians and the public. Connecticut Democratic state senator Matt Lesser tweeted, "Heating oil is near an all-time high but hey you can play Border Tsar Tom Homan in a video game." The games have been criticized for promoting the Trump administration's agenda through video game culture on social media.
What's still developing
- "To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we're grateful to have you in our community." The Tetris Company has had previous success in suing firms for infringing on its copyright - settling for an undisclosed fee with the makers of the iPhone game Mino in 2012, which it claimed stole the look and feel of the block-builder.
- Meanwhile in Rio Run, players must "patrol the line along the river", with gameplay reminiscent of the classic phone game Snake.
- Ironically it may have been Build the Wall 's own design logic that undermined its intended message. As Kotaku observed before the game was taken down, Build the Wall removed the typical Tetris mechanic of having the falling blocks vanish when assembled in a perfect straight line, but still flashes a "game over" screen after the bricks reach the top of the screen.
- The Trump administration's promise to promote its domestic and foreign policy agendas using video game iconography seems to have hit hit an (L-shaped) speed bump.
- On September 4, 2026, the White House added a new "Arcade" section to its website with five browser games themed around different policy pushes, each mechanically similar to existing games like Snake, Flappy Bird, and Tetris.
- Now news outlet VGC has spotted that one of those games, a Tetris clone called Build the Wall, has already been taken down.
- The game in question was themed around President Trump's decade-long push for a physical border wall along the US' southern border that would forcibly block undocumented immigration.
- “For more than 40 years, Tetris has brought people together across generations and cultures through play and joy,” Tetris spokesperson Kerri Brusca told the website last week.