This ‘Dr Mario’ Game Gets Harder Depending On Your Health Insurance

Screenshot via Dr Mario Insurance

If you’re looking to escape into another world only video games can offer, the hard-hitting Dr Mario Insurance won’t be for you.

Diseases aren’t even the worst thing in this fan-made web game developed by Steven Nass and Ivy Hu—your real-world insurance policy, potentially, is. Dr Mario Insurance follows the gameplay of the classic but with the added strains of coverage, which make things more difficult the lousier your plan and the higher the deductibles.

Who needs the metaverse when you can feel real pain from a 2D game?

For the uninitiated, Dr Mario is pretty much like Tetris but with pills as blocks and viruses as obstacles. Dr Mario World, the mobile version, was knocked down last year.

Screenshot via Dr Mario Insurance

Nass tells NME that the original intention was to make the insurance section more “bureaucratic” and cumbersome, replicating the process of filling out real forms. However, the creators quickly realized that players weren’t going to be comfortable about sharing their personal details. Plus, the game didn’t have the bandwidth to support that.

Play Dr Mario Insurance here. Once you’re done with the gut punches, you could also scroll to the bottom of the page and check out some links to donate to campaigns supporting Medicare-for-All.

[via NME and Boing Boing, screenshots via Dr Mario Insurance]