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Fake News: The Game
Webby-nominated. Crooked media-approved.
Fake News! is a Webby-nominated game that tests your ability to discern real headlines from fake ones. Styled with a 1980s arcade aesthetic, players swipe left or right to classify each headline. The game enhances critical thinking by using fact-checked data from Snopes and machine learning. High scores are tracked on a global leaderboard, adding a competitive twist.
From your phone to the arcade.
Fake News! offers a consistent experience across all devices, including phones, tablets, and desktops. This enabled our team to fulfill a dream: build an arcade game.
At the time, I managed this project at ISL (a WPP company), who had their very own in-house wood shop. We built a cabinet to hold an iPad, wood-burned branding into it, and voila! An expensive-looking inexpensive arcade game.
P.S.: we developed the game for Alexa devices, too 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Content development
This was just after Donald Trump's first election. "Fake News" was the flavor of the entire first term. Snopes emerged as a virtuous fact-checker as the post-truth era began.
We borrowed more than 150 headlines — some clearly fake (from cnn.usa/deepstate) and others towing the line.
We believe we succeeded in striking a balance when we saw the shared leaderboard scores come in: few could ace it.
Pour one out.
Fake News! was ultimately acquired by the creators of Cards Against Humanity who, as far as we can tell, shelved it. Still, thousands played, which means thousands were duped, which was exactly the goal.
