Opinion: Ticket Replay: Now you too can crash White House parties -- online
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As the holidays unfold, The Ticket’s thoughts turn to a little undeserved time off. So we’re re-publishing some of our favorite or most-read items from 2009. This item originally appeared on Dec. 11.
Michaele and Tareq Salahi have been on a roller coaster of bad falls since they crashed the first state dinner hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama a few weeks ago.
In court the other day, Tareq Salahi tried to pay a $2,000 landscaping bill by offering his Patek Philippe watch. His lawyer said it was worth enough to cover the debt. A jeweler later found it was an imitation worth $100 or less, so the Salahis had to write a check. Oh, and Tareq had to resign his seat on the Virginia Tourism Board. Guess gate-crashing is not encouraged at tourist attractions.
But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Salahis might be delighted to hear that their exploits at the White House -- recorded in posed photos with the president and Vice President Biden -- are now the subject of the latest game to hit the Internet.
White House Party Crashers is an online game in which players must collect keys and other items, buy a costume and sneak past security to crash the party. As the game notes, “If you want to crash a White House party, you’ll need to be clever and shameless.”
The game is the latest brainchild of AddictingGames.com, known for its news games. This summer the company produced “Naughty Governor” -- launched after South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail while actually flying to Buenos Aires to see his mistress. But the game also includes mention of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and the company says 800,000 have played so far.
Of course that pales next to the company’s “Hero on the Hudson,” about Chesley Sullenberger, the heroic captain of US Air Flight 1549 who made an emergency landing on the Hudson River last January, which has received more than 4.4 million plays.
Even “Tiger Parking Slam,” a play off Tiger Woods’ initial driveway troubles, has taken off since its introduction Dec. 4 amid a round of confessing mistresses. In any event, the game requires players to successfully park in driveways while avoiding trees, fire hydrants, and a blond woman swinging golf clubs at the car. Company officials say the Tiger game already has close to 700,000 plays.
-- Johanna Neuman
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