President Biden has been known to dabble in a few video games here and there, but according to his granddaughter, he has a bit of a reputation with Mario Kart. Many do not realize that Presidents can enjoy Camp David's impressive amenities, including its ever-expanding arcade. After Biden's recent victory that was celebrated by some of the biggest streaming personalities on Twitch, it appears that the President took his first weekend retreat since his inauguration on January 20th to kick back and play some video games.
Of course, Biden isn't exactly a noob when it comes to video games - over the course of his Presidential campaign, Biden frequently utilized popular video games, including Fortnite and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as a way to encourage younger generations to vote. His efforts paid off as he was elected as the 46th President by the largest number of voters in American history, including many gamers, so suffice it to say, Mr. Biden absolutely knows his way around a controller. So it's unsurprising that he would opt to spend a few quiet hours in Camp David's apparently very well-stocked arcade for his first official bit of downtime as President.
Biden and his family headed to the official presidential retreat in the Maryland hills on Friday with a relatively open itinerary, save some meetings with his security detail. There, the two went head to head on Camp David's Mario Kart arcade machine. According to Naomi, Biden won the bout — but only barely, she insists. For the first (confirmed) gamer President and his 26-year-old granddaughter Naomi, that also meant a round of Mario Kart Arcade GP DX racing, and, for Joe at least, yet another victory in the bag. Naomi posted pics of the race on her Instagram, which were later shared by Jennifer Epstein on Twitter and reported by Kotaku:
What's interesting is that Naomi refers to her granddad as "rusty" when it comes to Mario Kart, which indicates that this is definitely not the President's first trip down Rainbow Road. How good he's ever been at the game will probably never be revealed, but his avid karting days are likely long gone now that he's the president, considering Mario Kart is a surprisingly stressful game (although it is a lot cheaper than golf). Naomi's already made the jokes about President Biden being allowed to drive himself rather than having the Secret Service chauffer him, so let's leave it at that.
It's some well-earned rest and relaxation for the First Family this weekend, just in time for President's Day. Only time will tell what other games Joe Biden and Naomi will take on next before the long weekend is up — maybe a quick trip to Joe's private island in Animal Crossing?
Source: Jennifer Epstein/Twitter (via Kotaku)