Artists unveil 3 arcade games at D.C. memorial — Operation Epic Furious
Three fully functional arcade games called operation epic furious are on display this week at the District of Columbia War Memorial on the National Mall, turning the site into a temporary protest art installation aimed at Donald Trump’s war with Iran. The games were created by Secret Handshake, an anonymous activist group that previously installed a golden Trump and Jeffrey Epstein statue in front of the Capitol in March.
One game lets players choose whether to order a Diet Coke or invade Iran, and the installation includes caricatures of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel. Secret Handshake said the project was inspired by the White House’s use of memes and video game clips to promote the military effort on official accounts.
Operation Epic Furious at the Memorial
The new game is titled Operation Epic Furious: Strait To Hell. Its name references Operation Epic Fury and the Strait of Hormuz, and the collective said the game features furious tweet battles against Iranian schoolgirls, low-flow shower heads, DEI, and The Pope.
Secret Handshake said the game also lets users move through scenes involving Hegseth and Patel. If approached, the Hegseth character suggests Trump go outside and borrow Kid Rock’s helicopter to get to the war zone, and the character says that his “delts are combat ready.”
Two plaques next to the games sharpen the point. One says, “The Trump administration knows that the best way to sell combat is by making it a video game, that’s why they’ve been pumping out the ‘sickest’ Iran War video game hype reels. But why stop at clips when you could go full throttle?”
White House memes and video clips
The other plaque introduces the project as “a high-octane, flag-waving, boots-on-the-ground simulator where freedom isn’t debated, it’s deployed. No briefings, no hesitation; just pure pixelated patriotism. Strap in and play hard, because this game may never end,” according to Secret Handshake.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, the official White House account has used clips from Iron Man, Top Gun, Wii Sports, and Call of Duty together with real U.S. military footage of airstrikes in Iran. The arcade installation is meant as a response to that online material, which critics argue turns war into a game.
National Mall display timeline
The arcade games are expected to remain at the War Memorial on the National Mall, just south of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, for the next few days. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
