Tumblr Horse Game

Overview

Tumblr Horse Game refers to a 2017 April Fools Day feature implemented on Tumblr. The feature was an icon on the corner of the site that, when clicked, would take users to a game in which players would have to pick up feces from a pixelated horse. If the player ever stopped picking up the feces, the horse would die. The horse became the subject of memes and fan art following April Fools.

Background

On March 31st, 2017,^[1] the Tumblr Staff account posted "tips" for How to Love a Horse. The tips were:

Clean up after it.
Don’t stop for anything.
If you stop cleaning it will END.
You can pet your horse sometimes, but not for too long.
Take a picture of it.
Put it away when you’re done.

The meaning of the post was unclear until the following day, when Tumblr implemented the feature.

Developments

Tumblr implemented the "Horse Friend" game on April 1st, 2017. Users initially didn't understand what the game was.

Once it became clear, though, dozens of posts and memes about the game began spreading on the site. The Daily Dot^[2] and memedocumentation^[3] covered the game on the day as well as the site's reaction.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References