Several news outlets reported over the past 48 hours that a browser game called Five Nights at Epstein’s is sweeping through classrooms across the United States. The game, a parody of Five Nights at Freddy’s featuring Jeffrey Epstein, Stephen Hawking, and Donald Trump, originated on itch.io. However, evidence points to its peak popularity in February, with limited recent school concerns.
Five Nights at Epstein’s launched as a free browser game on itch.io, developed by user EvanProductions. It recreates the first Five Nights at Freddy’s title, replacing Freddy Fazbear, Chica, and Foxy with Jeffrey Epstein, Stephen Hawking, and President Donald Trump. The original version was taken down by the developer around late February, according to archival snapshots and statements from itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran. Corcoran told reporters the page received views in the order of hundreds of thousands over about a month but was not among itch.io’s top viral games. He added that copycat versions have not matched the original’s engagement levels and declined to share exact download statistics. Bloomberg cited traffic estimates from Similarweb showing a copycat site drew nearly 200,000 visits in February, with about 54 percent from the United States. Adjusted for potential exaggeration in estimates, this equates to roughly 1,200 to 3,680 unique daily U.S. page views. Videos on YouTube peaked in January and early February, while TikTok content from early February has largely been removed, with one video exceeding a million views per Know Your Meme. Google Trends data confirms the game’s search interest peaked in February. School-related reports remain sparse. WRAL News on March 3 referenced an anonymous tip, a concerned parent in Wake County, North Carolina, and a February 28 post on the r/teachers subreddit, noting scarce coverage elsewhere. ABC4 News covered a March 18 Facebook comment on the Kearns, Utah page, prompting a response from Granite School District Associate Director Luke Allen. Allen stated the district received one concern in February and viewed the Facebook post as the only additional one. Despite claims of current virality from Bloomberg, Newsweek, International Business Times UK, and Polymarket, the available data indicates the game trended among some users over a month ago.
