Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Monument Valley sales soar after Frank Underwood plays it in House of Cards

Indie app proved crucial to the plot of Episode 32

Christopher Hooton
Monday 09 March 2015 13:13 GMT
Comments
(Netflix)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

In one of the more surprising Season 3 spoilers, President Underwood lies down on a chaise longue to play a little Monument Valley on his iPad.

The award-winning game isn't just a distraction for the President though, and ends up being crucial in the plot of the season, leading him to solicit the services of a writer who once reviewed it.

Because everyone secretly wants to be a power-crazed homicidal maniac like Frank, the game's inclusion led to thousands of downloads by fans, and saw it return to the Top 10 paid apps on iTunes and take the number three spot on the Google Play store paid games chart.

null

This wasn't a case of product placement, but the show's producers reaching out to developer Ustwo to ask if they could use the game after it was suggested in the writers' room.

"They called us up and they said, 'Can we use your game?' and we said 'Yes,'" lead designer Ken Wong said at GDC 2015.

Frank's taste in games has softened somewhat – back in season one he was often seeing loudly playing first person shooters.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in