It’s been a while since a celebrated gamer visited the White House. The first and last to do so was former President Barack Obama, who brought Nintendo Wii with him when he took office and according to the person who played against him, apparently the main character of Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros.But depending on the outcome of the 2024 election, the White House could soon have a second player circling the issue: current Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
But Governor Walz isn’t taking his Nintendo Wii with him (as far as we know), nor has he tried to settle his political disputes in Smash, as far as we know. His gaming habits, surprisingly, run a bit deeper. It turns out that Governor Walz is reportedly a Sega Dreamcast fan. And thanks to some sleuthing, we’ve not only managed to track down Walz’s aged Dreamcast console, but we may have also discovered at least one game the former teacher-turned-politician has historically enjoyed: Crazy Taxi.
Little Dreamcast, massive adventure
First we learned that Governor Walz was once a Dreamcast enthusiast due to article in The New York TimesIn the report, Walz’s former student recalls him sharing “extremely close” stories with the class, “like the one about how his wife took away his Dreamcast, a Sega video game console, because he played it too much.”
Of course, this immediately sparked a wave of social media memes speculating on what game Walz was so enamored with. Was it Sega Bass Fishing, the quintessential “dad” game that seemed to fit Governor Walz’s general demeanor? Was it Sega Sports NFL 2K, a fitting choice considering he was a football coach and had Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss on the cover at the time? Or was it something more left-wing, like Shenmue or Skies of Arcadia? Theories abounded. We, and likely many other journalists, reached out to Governor Walz’s office a few weeks ago seeking answers, but have not heard back.
That would have been the end if not for one member of the ResetEra gaming forum. User Bryn Tanner (who goes by Aaron on the forum) had published already in 2018 that they were in possession of Governor Walz’s aged Dreamcast. “Oh, I bought a Dreamcast for $25 in 2012 from one of his former high school students who worked on his campaign. Walz just said, ‘hey, we have this old video game, do you want it?’ And the guy took it.”
When I reached out to him, Tanner was taking a well-deserved and fun victory lap when the Dreamcast news broke. “lmao yeah I still have that Dreamcast it fucking rocks,” he wrote in a post after the NYT article. Tanner told me that while the Dreamcast he bought at the time came with a VMU, an external rumble pack, two controllers, and a controller extender, the VMU didn’t come with any data. And the console didn’t come with any games, though Tanner did buy a copy of Crazy Taxi for $4 from Pawn America later that same day.
“It’s kind of funny to me to think that our future vice president might know who Big the Cat is if he ever played Sonic Adventure,” Tanner tells me.
Although Tanner didn’t know what games Walz played, he knew someone who might. He recommended Alex Gaterud, one of Walz’s former global geography students at Mankato West. Although Gaterud doesn’t remember Walz ever talking to him about video games, he was roommates in college with another Mankato alumnus who brought the Dreamcast in question with him and left it behind when he moved out. Gaterud says he sold the Dreamcast to Tanner, though he points out that “advertising something that ‘formerly belonged to a U.S. congressman’ doesn’t add any value to Craigslist.”
What games came with the Dreamcast? Gaterud doesn’t know—they weren’t around when he gave it to Tanner, and he doesn’t recall ever playing it. Luckily, Gaterud was able to connect me with one other person who could settle this once and for all. So I called Tom Johnson, another Mankato West graduate and former intern for Governor Walz’s campaign.
Tim Walz and the Nerd Pack
Tom Johnson graduated from Mankato West in 2007 and spent the summer before college working for Walz’s congressional campaign. As an intern, he sent mail, coordinated volunteers and drove around Minnesota, sometimes with Walz for rides.
Considering it wasn’t an election year, Johnson says the atmosphere was pretty relaxed and peaceful, and the campaign office had a lounge area in the back with a mini putting set, a couch and a TV. One day, he recalls, Walz brought in a box of stuff he planned to donate, saying he thought the staff might want to operate it. Inside, of course, was a Dreamcast.
“Walz is really just a great, normal guy,” Johnson continues. “He’s one of those guys, it’s like he’s your friendly neighbor, and then you find out this guy has the Guinness Book of World Records for free throws. He’s just a normal guy, and he’s also the governor. Everything people say about him, that he’s a down-to-earth guy, really nice, really friendly, really genuine, it’s all true.”
But what kind of video games does he play? Johnson thinks he remembers one disc sitting in the Dreamcast when he took it out of the office to go to college.
“I wish I could say there was Crazy Taxi,” Johnson says.
Is Crazy Taxi the game that Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz played so much that his wife took his Dreamcast away? We still don’t know for sure. As Gaterud told me, “it’s basically a law that all Dreamcasts need a copy of Crazy Taxi,” so at least Governor Walz almost certainly had a copy. And in TikTok video posted by Tanner about Dreamcastone commenter seems to suggest he once knew Walz and that he talked a lot about Crazy Taxi – we’ve reached out to them for more details. I’ve also reached out to his office again to see if he’ll confirm, but nothing so far. I’ve also reached out to Sega for comment on the possibility that their weird ride series played a diminutive role in the current presidential election. Also no comment.
In any case, Governor Walz’s brief flirtation with the Dreamcast would make him the first high-profile gamer vice president if he and current Vice President Kamala Harris are elected. Considering Crazy Taxi is looks like it’s going to get an open-world rebootmaybe one day we’ll see him in the White House.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
