Jeffrey Epstein-themed survival game sparks outcry in US schools

A disturbing online game titled "Five Nights at Epstein’s" has triggered a wave of controversy across United States educational institutions, from Utah to North Carolina.

The web-based survival horror game, which gained nearly 200,000 visits in February 2026 alone, casts players as victims trapped on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.

Drawing inspiration from the popular "Five Nights at Freddy’s" franchise, the game requires players to navigate dimly lit environments and bypass security cameras to avoid "surprise attacks" from digital recreations of Epstein. To win, players must survive five consecutive nights without being caught.

The game's surge in popularity has deeply unsettled parents and child safety advocates, who argue that gamifying documented sexual abuse desensitises young people to the severity of such crimes.

Mary Rodee, a librarian at Canton Central School in upstate New York, condemned the trend, stating, "That’s not kids being kids; that’s kids hiding from being sexually assaulted."

Educators fear that the jump-scare mechanics trivialise real-world trauma, making students "numb" to the gravity of exploitation. Despite these concerns, videos of students playing the game have "taken the internet by storm," with some tutorials even demonstrating how to bypass school firewall systems.

In response, school districts like the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina have begun blacklisting URLs associated with the game on district-managed devices.

Major tech companies have also intervened; a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the company is actively blocking links related to the game, while TikTok has removed content that promotes or glamorises the exploitation of minors.

This controversy coincides with the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent release of three million documents related to the Epstein investigation, which has reignited public discourse surrounding the case and its impact on survivors.