What Is Oval Arcade?

An interactive political satire of Donald Trump's Oval Office. You wander the room, click things, and find stories, sounds, videos, historical oddities, bad decisions, hypocrisy, and assorted American political insanity.

If you want the origin story, that's on the blog: I Built a Very Stupid Oval Office.

Go to the Oval. Click things. Click them again.

Some objects do exactly what you expect. Others absolutely do not. Follow the source links when a joke depends on a fact.

I'm not going to tell you where everything is.

The photograph is bigger than the joke list, and I have a day job.

Some objects aren't wired yet. Some I left quiet on purpose. If nothing happens, try something else, or check back later.

Because clicking it once apparently wasn't enough for you.

Most objects cycle: a story, then a gag if there is one, then the sound clips.

On the Oval, the top-right rail has a Sound on / Sound off control.

Site audio and movie clips follow that switch. Your browser may still ask for permission the first time something plays.

Yes.

The presentation is satire. The receipts aren't.

Wherever a gag depends on a factual claim, I've tried to link the reporting, video, transcript, government record, or other source behind it. I generally favor established news organizations, wire services, court documents, official reports, and sources that don't require a subscription or account to read.

The goal isn't “trust me.” It's “don't trust me. Click the link.”

Satire. This is not a news organization. I am not pretending I don't have a point of view.

The jokes are jokes. The underlying events shouldn't be.

Opinions, exaggeration, and factual assertions aren't the same thing, and I've tried to make the distinction obvious.

Think of it as a political cartoon you can rummage through. It is meant to make you laugh, and occasionally stop and say “Wait. Did that actually happen?”

This project was made by one person, not a newsroom. Something here may be inaccurate, outdated, or missing context. I'll fix what I find.

Some things aren't particularly funny.

January 6 is already documented extraordinarily well by NPR. I do not need an inferior interactive knockoff. Click Abraham Lincoln and the site introduces their work and sends you there.

Because I have a warped sense of humor and don't want everything to be depressing.

Clips are credited on those screens, under the video, in this format: Clip: Title (Year) · Studio.

Because managed democracy isn't going to spread itself.

Who is Adam Sutler?

Because I love my country, and many members of my family served in the military.

Criticism of an administration isn't criticism of our country.

Criticism of a war isn't criticism of our soldiers.

No.

This site does not endorse any candidate or political party.

It isn't operated by a campaign, PAC, political party, candidate, or advocacy organization. Nobody paid me to make it, and nobody approved the jokes.

It is also not affiliated with Donald Trump, the White House, the U.S. government, or any person, company, publication, studio, or organization mentioned here.

The Disclaimer in the top-right rail says the same thing in slightly more lawyerly English.

No.

There are no sponsors behind the jokes, no donation buttons, no campaign funding, and no billionaire quietly wiring me money from a sovereign wealth fund.

(Apparently I chose the wrong line of work.)

This is a personal hobby project.

I'm currently planning to, at about five to ten hours a week.

I suspect the news will donate material faster than I can add it.

Sundays I write on the blog: site changes, research crumbs, and whatever hole I fell into that week.

Cursor, ChatGPT, and Photoshop, plus HTML, CSS, and TypeScript.

Vite builds and serves it. There's no React or database. Feedback is a small private form. What you see in the browser is otherwise a static site.

The longer version of who did what is in the first blog post.

Each hotspot is a shape traced onto the photograph.

The browser knows which shape you hit. From there it runs whatever that object is supposed to do: a news story, a sound clip, a longer sequence, or something else entirely.

That's why it feels like an old point-and-click even though it's just a web page.

Less than $100 to start, but there will be ongoing AI and maintenance expenses of about $50/month if I continue maintaining it.

Corrections, suggestions, or something I got wrong. I won't reply.

Site changes show up in the room. Sometimes they show up on Sundays on the blog.