--- description: Last year's hit indie game is a major subplot in House of Cards season 3 title: This Is the Amazing Video Game President Underwood Can't Stop Playing image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b04cae6e2674829/6987818bcd6848d35d099ef5/screenshot1.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is the Incredible Game President Underwood Is Obsessed With in _House of Cards_ Season 3 by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 28, 2015 2:42 PM CUT  UsTwo by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 28, 2015 2:42 PM CUT Francis Underwood, Kevin Spacey’s Machiavellian character on the Netflix series [_House of Cards_](http://time.com/tag/house-of-cards/ "undefined"), has always allowed himself a few good video games. These have tended toward the violent, first-person-shooter variety. But in [Season 3](http://time.com/3710521/house-of-cards-season-3/ "undefined"), which became available on the streaming service on Friday, a beautiful, somewhat esoteric indie game for mobile devices becomes a minor plot point. That game is [_Monument Valley_](http://www.monumentvalleygame.com "undefined"), created by [UsTwo](http://ustwo.com "undefined"). The title—available [here for Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ustwo.monumentvalley&hl=en "undefined") and [here for iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monument-valley/id728293409?mt=8 "undefined")— was ranked one of [TIME’s 10 best games of 2014](http://time.com/3582118/top-10-video-games-2014/ "undefined"). Here’s a description of the game by its designers, part of which Spacey alludes to in the show: --- > “” --- Or as TIME’s reviewer put it: “_Monument Valley_ celebrates non-Euclidean geometry, beautifully bizarre architecture and the art of silent storytelling. Combine royalty with optical trickery, trajectory-fiddling with bonsai pruning, aesthetic contemplation with tactile interaction and you wind up with something like designer ustwo’s delightful, enigmatic puzzler.” Worth checking out, no matter where you are on the road to world domination. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3727252/house-of-cards-monument-valley/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3727252/house-of-cards-monument-valley/"},"headline":"This Is the Incredible Game President Underwood Is Obsessed With in House of Cards Season 3","datePublished":"2015-02-28T14:42:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:32.056Z","description":"It's called Monument Valley and it's pretty great","url":"https://time.com/3727252/house-of-cards-monument-valley/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","house of cards","Android","iPhone","iOS","Design"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b04cae6e2674829/6987818bcd6848d35d099ef5/screenshot1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Vella","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-vella/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b04cae6e2674829/6987818bcd6848d35d099ef5/screenshot1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Monument Valley","caption":"","creditText":"UsTwo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3727252/house-of-cards-monument-valley/","name":"This Is the Incredible Game President Underwood Is Obsessed With in House of Cards Season 3"}}]}] ```