Merve Lapus’ 13-year-old daughter told her father she was horrified: This month, whenever her teacher left the room, kids in the classroom were using their devices to play a new online game called Five Nights at Epstein’s.
Accessible through a web browser, players pretend to be sexual assault victims imprisoned on the infamous island of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Characters must maneuver around security cameras and palm trees, navigate dimly lit rooms, and ultimately avoid surprise attacks by a convicted sex offender. To win, they must survive five nights on the island without being found and abused by Epstein.
Five Nights at Epstein’s is sweeping through classrooms across the country — from Utah to North Carolina — overflowing with social media videos showing young boys and girls playing in the classroom. In some cases, videos on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have garnered millions of views, and some clips even teach students how to bypass school security systems for campuses where it’s already blocked.
What troubled his teen most, Lapus said, was that her classmates at the Northern California high school seemed “disconnected from the reality that there were real victims.” They regularly talk about the game and laugh in a way that was “almost dehumanizing” to the victims, he added.
While several versions of the game are now available online, one web version, which allows students to play in their browsers without having to install or download an app, attracted nearly 200,000 hits in February, according to Similarweb estimates.
A Meta spokesperson said the company blocks users from sharing links to the game. TikTok said its community guidelines do not allow sharing, showing, promoting or engaging in the abuse or exploitation of youth. YouTube declined to comment.
Social media platforms still feature videos prominently in search or facilitate downloads. Typing “five nights” into an Instagram or TikTok search will populate Epstein’s game name or a misspelled version of it, presumably posted to avoid detection by filters. Some viral videos about the game on YouTube promote download links in the subtitles.
A twist on the popular Epstein-themed game Five Nights at Freddy’s has emerged in recent months as the US Justice Department released thousands of pages of documents from the government’s investigation into the late financier, who for years sexually abused underage girls with no recourse. His crimes took on a unique cultural significance around the world, in part because of Epstein’s network of prominent business and political leaders. The game follows the rise of Five Nights at Diddy’s, another Freddy parody that went viral online after former hip-hop giant Combs was federally charged with sex trafficking and other crimes in 2024 and convicted and sentenced to prison for prostitution-related crimes the following year. Attorneys for Combs are appealing.
The dramatization of Epstein’s sex crimes worries parents and educators, who worry that young people are unable to grasp the gravity of his behavior.
Through games, children “become numb to really horrible things,” said Mary Rodee, a librarian at Canton Central School in upstate New York. Rodee’s 15-year-old son, Riley Basford, died by suicide in 2021 after being sexually blackmailed — or blackmailed after sending sexual images — on social media to a fake account posing as a teenage girl. She urged parents to recognize that what happens through the screen can be just as harmful as real-life experiences.
“That’s not kids being kids, that’s kids hiding from being sexually assaulted,” Rodee said. “Doesn’t it make you a little more numb to sexually assault someone? I have to believe it does.”
Educators have struggled for years with what to do with technology in schools, facing a range of issues from cyberbullying to artificial intelligence as a homework helper. Some of the same schools that are adopting “bell-to-bell” bans on smartphones are simultaneously issuing laptops, tablets and other educational technology devices to be used in the classroom — which some parents and advocates say is just replacing one distraction with another.
Games like Five Nights at Epstein’s add to the load. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the game originated, but it appears that what may be a major version was created by a local group known as Evan Productions, who originally published it on online video game hub itch.io. The Evan account no longer exists. Game Jolt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A developer with the account name @killlala1213 posted on fivenightsatepsteins.org that he is responsible for maintaining the playable web version of the game. In a blog post, they wrote: “This site does not encourage anyone to circumvent school rules, filters or policies. If your school blocks games, please respect that and only play where it is allowed.” They also stated that they do not verify age and that it is “up to the players and their families” to decide what content is appropriate for them.
In online reviews of the game, some commentators are urging the developers to add Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and fixer Ghislane Maxwell as a character. Others beg for repetition that can easily be played at school. With each passing night on the island, “Epstein becomes more aggressive,” according to the web version of the game developed by Evan Productions. The description also warns of another “predator” stalking the facility: President Donald Trump. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The game has spread thanks to a culture of internet memes aimed at making light of current events and pressing political, cultural and social issues. Every major social media platform also relaxed its rules under the Trump administration to allow more content to remain online, including satirical material by public figures.
The Carson City School District in Nevada is among those trying to get the game into their classrooms, according to posts on a local community Facebook group. Dan Davis, a district spokesman, declined to comment specifically on the Epstein game, but said the district operates content filtering and monitoring systems on school facilities to take action in cases of inappropriate use or disruptive behavior. She also encourages parents to talk to students about responsible technology use in and out of the classroom.
Jill Murphy, the parent of 13- and 16-year-old girls, recently alerted their San Francisco school after her seventh grade class saw classmates playing the game. Murphy, director of content for children’s group Common Sense Media, said she was concerned about the harmful “domino effect” the game could have throughout the community. It’s already challenging enough to navigate conversations about the Epstein files and sexual violence more broadly with young children, she said, especially girls.
“He knows what sexual assault is, he knows what rape is, obviously he knows the difference between right and wrong, what’s legal and what’s not,” Murphy said of her 13-year-old. But dealing with it “can’t just be something the school is responsible for, and it can’t just be something put on the parents”.
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