All Trumps! A Collection of Donald Trump Themed Games
By Alex J. Coyne @ 2019 Great Bridge Links
Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States, and a lot of people will still remember him as the host of the business deal-based game show The Apprentice – but a lot of people might not know is that Trump was also the star of (several) board, card and PC games all based around, well, him. Here’s a look at some of the games that Trump has put his likeness on over the years – and why you should just break out the Monopoly instead.
Trump: The Game (1988)
Trump: The Game was the first attempt at a board game with Trump’s likeness, first released in the 1980’s by the Milton Bradley Games Company – who also happens to make Yahtzee, Cluedo and Scrabble. The closest you can get to describing what this game is, is by comparing it to Monopoly, but worse.
CEO of Vegas World and very accomplished poker player Bob Stupak challenged Trump to a game of Trump with a million dollars on the table, but was told no deal.
The game was re-released again in 2005, this time by Hasbro – and with updated rules – but didn’t sell any better.
Here’s the original cringe-worthy commercial for the game on YouTube. If you want to see more, here’s another piece where we’ve put together some of the weirdest board game commercials we could find.
The Apprentice Board Game (2005)
The Apprentice was made famous by the famous catchphrase, “You’re fired!” – and the board game equivalent is basically a mash-up of Trump’s face and something between the Game of Life and Monopoly, but done badly. Most of the game has you completing tasks which you find on cards as you move around the board. The only real reason to buy this one would be as a board game collector – or a fan of the TV show.
The Apprentice for PC (2006)
Either they didn’t know when to stop or just wanted to milk the concept a bit more. The Apprentice for PC was released in 2006 by Legacy Interactive, a company that’s built a lot of other casual games based on TV shows like Law & Order and CSI: NY – this just wasn’t one of their best efforts. The game feels way too simple and like a mash-up of other casual games like Diner Dash (but again, done badly instead). Still available on Amazon and eBay.
And no, it seems like they didn’t know when to stop with the concept and released another, The Apprentice: Los Angeles in 2007. Better, but still not.
Donald Trump’s Real Estate Tycoon for PC (2002)
This gem was put together by Activision and RedCap instead – and surprisingly, it had better general reviews than any of the other games mentioned before. It’s still not great, but it’s not bad either and it sits somewhere in the middle. You’ll either like this one, or you won’t – but if you like games like Monopoly for PC and can imagine it mixed ever-so-slightly with games like SimCity, you might actually enjoy this one.
The Trump Card Game
First, we should point out that the Trump Card Game isn’t licensed by Trump – not even remotely. This parody trading card game comes in two versions, either the Trump Card game or the Adult equivalent that’s a little bit more, well, adult.
The overall theme of this one is Trump and fake news – and the game is one where you have to guess: Is this BS, or did he actually say it? Honestly, well, it’s actually fun, and it’s harder than you think. Original concept, and fun to break out at the (right) party.
Bonus WTF
Surprisingly, we’ve got more: If you’ve ever wanted to own a trading card set with Trump’s face on it, there are a few – including Decision Political Trading Card Game
Here’s a good place to link the new Board Game Commercial piece!