White House Urban Affairs Agenda Based on Late-Night Sim City Game

It has been revealed that the White House's Urban Affairs Agenda is entirely based on a late-night round of the computer game "Sim City", played by President Barack Obama and Urban Affairs Secretary Adolfo Carrion.

1 minute read

April 1, 2009, 2:00 PM PDT

By Planetizen


A Secret Service agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters President Obama and Secretary Carrion were up past 3 a.m., crouched around a laptop on the Oval Office floor, playing Sim City.

"They had their pajamas on and they could not stop giggling. I must have brought them four glasses of milk each," the agent said of the late-night event.

The two men reportedly reveled in the placement of houses in their Sim City, trying to see whose neighborhood would be "the coolest". Boisterous laughter erupted in the room at one point when President Obama let loose a tornado and earthquake on Secretary Carrion's neighborhood, completely destroying it.

"They were dropping houses and factories in that city like it was a rainstorm," another agent reported. "I don't even think they knew what they were doing. It was just click-click-click all night."

The late-night game session was dutifully recorded by Secretary Carrion, who immediately placed his crayon-written policy recommendations on the desk of the President, where it was promptly signed into law the next morning.

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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