‘Hang Mike Pence!’: London has a popular game that reenacts the January 6 insurrection

In a one-of-a-kind theater experience, London’s West End has become the surprising setting for a hands-on game that recreates the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. At Stone Nest, a performance space located in the middle of the city’s famous theater district, audiences are invited to step into a controversial moment in American democracy.

This interactive show, called Fight for America!, lets participants wrestle with the events of that day, looking at themes like division, democracy, and political extremism through a live, engaging format. The performance lasts about two and a half hours and turns Stone Nest into a huge tabletop war game. As found by The Washington Post, the centerpiece is a massive 50-foot by 50-foot game board, carefully designed with a detailed 14-foot-wide model of the U.S. Capitol Building.

That’s right, the events of the day were so strange and obviously wrong that London is basically making a game out of it. The rioters who participated in the original insurrection were pardoned, since they fought for Trump, but it seems like the irony is not lost on the UK.

London has an interactive show where you can be a rioter

Spread across this elaborate setup are more than 10,000 hand-painted miniature figures, each with tiny details like riot shields or “Trump 2020” flags, representing the two opposing sides. Up to 20 people can take part directly in the game, joining either “Team Red” or “Team Blue.” Team Red plays the attackers, the pro-Trump crowd that stormed the Capitol, while Team Blue plays the police and others defending the building.

The game is led by a mysterious “Gamemaster” dressed as Uncle Sam, players make decisions in real time that shape how the events play out. The game is full of uncertainty and quick thinking, mirroring the chaos of the actual day. The goal for each side is tied to their conflicting ideas of America, pushing players to think about what in America is truly worth fighting for.

Beyond the active players, a bigger audience can watch the action unfold as the thousands of miniatures are moved around the Capitol model. While the show tries to examine how fragile democracy can be and the real-world impact of political extremism, it also offers a strange and somewhat controversial way to look at these events. The mood during the performance can get very intense, with audience members sometimes joining in with chants like “Hang Mike Pence!” echoing those heard on January 6. This makes the atmosphere feel eerily close to the real event.

For a British audience, the way they see these American events can be different. There’s a sense of distance from the immediate political fallout, which can make it easier to watch as outsiders. Sometimes, American politics can even seem almost “cartoonish” to them, like a dramatic show separate from their own lives. But the game pushes people to think more deeply about the seriousness of what happened, breaking down that detached view by letting them feel the tension and pressure of trying to take down a government.