It’s been a whereas since a recognized gamer frequented The White Home. The primary, and final, to take action was former President Barack Obama, who brought a Nintendo Wii with him when he took workplace and, in keeping with somebody who performed towards him, apparently mains Captain Falcon in Tremendous Smash Bros. However relying on the end result of the 2024 election, The White Home could quickly have a second gamer milling round: present Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
However Gov. Walz isn’t bringing a Nintendo Wii with him (that we all know of), nor has he tried to settle his political disputes in Smash to our information. His gaming habits are, surprisingly, a bit deeper a lower than that. It seems that Gov. Walz is reportedly a fan of the Sega Dreamcast. And thru some sleuthing, we’ve managed to not solely monitor down Walz’s outdated Dreamcast console, however we could have additionally uncovered a minimum of one recreation that the previous teacher-turned-politician has traditionally loved: Loopy Taxi.
Little Dreamcast, Big Journey
We first realized that Gov. Walz was, at one level, a Dreamcast enjoyer as a consequence of an article in The New York Times. Within the report, a former scholar of Walz’s remembers that he used to share “unusually relatable” tales along with his courses, “just like the time his spouse had seized his Dreamcast, the Sega online game console, as a result of he had been taking part in to extra.”
Clearly, this instantly sparked a flurry of neighborhood memes speculating what recreation had Walz so enraptured. Was it Sega Bass Fishing, a quintessential “dad” recreation that appeared consistent with Gov. Walz’s general demeanor? Was it Sega Sports activities NFL 2K, an apropos alternative given he was a soccer coach and then-Minnesota Vikings huge receiver Randy Moss was on the quilt? Was it one thing extra left-field like Shenmue or Skies of Arcadia? Theories abounded. We, and in all probability a variety of different journalists, reached out to Gov. Walz’s workplace weeks in the past in search of the reply, however didn’t get any response.
That will have been the tip of it, however for one member of gaming discussion board ResetEra. The consumer, Bryn Tanner (who goes by Aaron on the discussion board), had posted way back in 2018 that they have been in possession of Gov. Walz’s outdated Dreamcast. “Oh I purchased a Dreamcast for $25 again in 2012 from certainly one of his former highschool college students who labored on his marketing campaign. Walz was similar to ‘hey we have now this outdated online game factor, would you like it?’ And the man took it.”
Once I reached out to him, Tanner was taking a well-deserved and humorous victory lap as information concerning the Dreamcast surfaced. “lmao sure I nonetheless have that Dreamcast this fucking guidelines,” he wrote in a publish following the NYT piece. Tanner went on to inform me that whereas the Dreamcast he bought on the time got here with a VMU, a third-party rumble pack, two controllers, and a controller extension cable, the VMU did not have any knowledge on it. And the console didn’t include any video games, although Tanner purchased a copy of Loopy Taxi for $4 at Pawn America in a while the day of the acquisition.
“I get a little kick out of realizing our future VP would possibly know who Big the Cat is that if he ever performed Sonic Journey,” Tanner tells me.
Although Tanner didn’t know what video games Walz performed, he did know somebody who would possibly. He referred me to Alex Gaterud, certainly one of Walz’s former World Geography college students at Mankato West. Although Gaterud doesn’t bear in mind Walz ever talking with him about video video games, he was roommates in faculty with one other Mankato graduate who introduced alongside the Dreamcast in query and left it behind when he moved out. Gaterud then says he offered the Dreamcast to Tanner, although he factors out to me that “promoting one thing ‘previously owned by a U.S. Congressman’ would not add any worth on Craigslist.”
What video games got here with the Dreamcast? Gaterud doesn’t know – there weren’t any round when he handed it off to Tanner, and he can’t recall ever taking part in something on it. Luckily, Gaterud was in a position to join me to at least one extra one who would possibly have the ability to type this out as soon as and for all. So I referred to as up Tom Johnson, one other Mankato West graduate and a former marketing campaign intern for Gov. Walz.
Tim Walz and the Nerd Herd
Tom Johnson graduated Mankato West in 2007, and spent the summer time earlier than he went to school working for Walz’s congressional marketing campaign. As an intern, he would ship out mailers, coordinate volunteers, and drive round Minnesota, often with Walz alongside for the journey.
On condition that it wasn’t an election yr, Johnson says the vibes have been pretty relaxed and quiet, and the marketing campaign workplace had a break space within the again with a mini putt set, a sofa, and a TV. In the future, he remembers, Walz introduced in a field of stuff that he had deliberate to donate, saying he thought the employees would possibly like to make use of it. Inside, in fact, was the Dreamcast.
Johnson and the opposite employees didn’t play the Dreamcast a lot throughout its stint within the marketing campaign workplace, so when he left for school, Johnson simply took it with him, which is the way it reached Gaterud and later Tanner. However whereas Johnson wasn’t doing a lot Dreamcast gaming, he tells me that in highschool he was a a part of a group of people recognized (“affectionately, I hope”) because the “Nerd Herd” at Mankato West. The group would have LAN events collectively, and play World of Warcraft late into the night time. Many Nerd Herd members, Johnson says, went on to work on Walz’s marketing campaign for Congress in 2006. “I might say the Nerd Herd of Mankato contributed tremendously to [Walz’s] election to Congress in 2006, which had the domino impact of him being nominated for vp of the USA.”
“Walz actually is simply such a nice, regular man,” Johnson continues. “He’s a type of guys, it’s like, he’s your pleasant neighbor, and then you definitely discover out that man has the Guiness E-book of World Information totally free throw capturing. He’s simply a regular man, he simply occurs to be a governor too. Every thing individuals say about him being this all the way down to earth man, very nice, actually pleasant, actually earnest, it’s all true.”
However what video video games does he play? Johnson thinks he remembers one disc sitting contained in the Dreamcast when he took it from the workplace to go to school.
“I wanna say there was Loopy Taxi,” Johnson says.
Is Loopy Taxi the sport Gov. and VP candidate Tim Walz performed a lot that his spouse took his Dreamcast away? We nonetheless don’t know for certain. It’s, as Gaterud put it to me, “principally legislation that every one Dreamcasts want a copy of Loopy Taxi,” so at minimal, Gov. Walz nearly definitely owned a copy. And in a TikTok video posted by Tanner about the Dreamcast, one commenter appears to indicate they at one level knew Walz, and that he talked about Loopy Taxi a lot – we have reached out to them for extra particulars. I’ve additionally reached out to his workplace once more to see if he’ll affirm, however nothing to date. And I reached out to Sega for touch upon the likelihood that their goofy driving franchise performed a tiny function within the present presidential election. No remark there both.
Regardless of the case, Gov. Walz’s however-brief flirtation with the Dreamcast would make him the primary recognized gamer vp if he and present vp Kamala Harris are elected. On condition that Loopy Taxi is apparently getting an open-world reboot, possibly we’ll see it make an look within the White Home certainly one of as of late.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Bought a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.