Three functional arcade cabinets appeared on the National Mall, marking the latest piece of guerrilla art from the group known as The Secret Handshake, as reported by The Washington Post. This installation, titled “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell,” offers a satirical, pixelated take on the ongoing conflict with Iran. The arcade machines were placed at the D.C. War Memorial, just south of the Reflecting Pool, and they’ve already started drawing attention from locals and visitors alike.
The group behind this project is the same collective responsible for previous controversial installations, including a golden toilet placed near the Lincoln Memorial and a statue depicting an alleged friendship between President Trump and the late Jeffrey Epstein.
While the president has denied any such friendship and hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing regarding the financier, these installations consistently aim to provoke public discourse. The Secret Handshake manages to secure these permits through an anonymous intermediary, allowing them to place their work throughout the capital without revealing their identities.
“Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell” is designed as a 16-bit role-playing game that leans into the aesthetics of classic arcade titles
Despite the heavy subject matter of the military campaign launched in February, the creators made a specific choice to exclude any guns or shooting mechanics. Instead, the game focuses on a surreal, satirical version of the administration’s activities. Players navigate a world where they collect oil barrels and complete missions assigned by various officials. You’ll encounter characters like Vice President JD Vance, who is depicted with an artificially widened face, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who sends players on side quests to find vials of measles.
The game is surprisingly detailed for a piece of protest art. You can help a pixelated version of the president find a Big Mac or order a Diet Coke, and there’s a bizarre mechanic where the only way to lose the game is to attempt to hold first lady Melania Trump’s hand.
The ultimate objective, according to the game’s logic, is to collect enough Truth Social posts to open the Strait of Hormuz. At the start of the experience, players are greeted with a prompt that asks, “Ready to ROCK Iran back to the Stone Ages?” This is a direct reference to a post the president made in early April. The game offers three options for the response: “Not Yet … ,” “Yes” and “Hell Yes.”
The exterior of the arcade cabinets is wrapped in cartoons of administration officials and prints of the president’s actual Truth Social posts regarding the war. A plaque on the floor of the memorial explains the intent, stating, “Introducing … 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 the artists, the project is a critique of the U.S. government’s own use of video game imagery. The White House has previously shared videos on X that blend real-world bombing footage with clips from popular military shooters like Halo and Call of Duty. By turning the conflict into a 16-bit game, The Secret Handshake is effectively holding a mirror up to that messaging strategy.
Matthew Thomas Payne, a professor of media studies at the University of Notre Dame, noted that games are an incredibly effective medium for protest because they rely on interactivity. He pointed out that when a user is the one making the decisions, like searching for a Big Mac or engaging in a war of words with a fictional version of Pope Leo, the message hits differently than it would in a movie or a speech. The sense of agency in the game makes the satire feel much more personal.
The online version of the game has been quite popular, racking up over 14,000 downloads by 3:00 PM on Monday. Local resident Josh Gamble, who visited the D.C. War Memorial after seeing the project on Reddit, remarked that the game felt like an endless cycle. Even after playing for a while, he couldn’t find a “You Win” screen, which he suspected was the point.
Published: May 13, 2026 12:15 pm