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Next year's U.S. presidential race could see a former confessed Game Boy addict make it to the White House. Earlier today, the William J. Clinton Library published a photo of 2016 candidate and former First Lady Hillary Clinton transfixed by her Game Boy back in 1993.
The candid pic taken by former White House official photographer Ralph Alswang was posted to the Clinton Library's Instagram account today with the caption:
April 6, 1993: Hillary Rodham Clinton plays a Nintendo "Game Boy" electronic game on her flight from Austin, Texas to Washington, DC.
Clinton reportedly had an affinity for the Game Boy version of Tetris, according to a 2002 New York Times article. And in an interview with Time magazine (PDF) right around the time the newly released photo was taken, Clinton said she'd "become quite a fan of Gameboy [sic]." She told Time that she'd purchased her own Game Boy, so that she'd no longer have to share with daughter Chelsea.
"I really became addicted in the hospital," Clinton joked. "I'm going to seek treatment."
While it's speculated that Clinton was playing Tetris, given her reported taste for the puzzle game, the photo was taken shortly after the release of Konami's Kid Dracula in North America, leading to other viable theories.
As noted by our friends at Vox, Clinton's Game Boy playing could have been an escape for the former First Lady during a difficult time. Her father passed away the day after the photo was snapped, and Clinton had spent weeks at her father's bedside in the hospital.
Current U.S. president Barack Obama has also dabbled with the occasional Nintendo game. Obama reportedly owned a Wii and managed to squeeze in some Wii Sports bowling and Just Dance in between presidential duties. Obama also owns at least one game in The Witcher series, though it's still unclear how much of that game he's played.
