Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
A bee helped break Skyrim's opening cart ride.
A bee helped break Skyrim's opening cart ride. During development, the insect had collision enabled and could obstruct the scripted cart. When the two met,…
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Simlish, the iconic gibberish language spoken by characters in The Sims franchise, was created because developers knew that players would get incredibly annoyed hearing the same…
Simlish, the iconic gibberish language spoken by characters in The Sims franchise, was created because developers knew that players would get incredibly…
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Mortal Kombat's finishing moves helped bring video games before Congress.
Mortal Kombat's finishing moves helped bring video games before Congress. The 1993 hearings scrutinized violent games including Mortal Kombat, whose…
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Silent Hill made a hardware limit feel like a threat.
Silent Hill made a hardware limit feel like a threat. The original PlayStation could only display so much scenery at once, and fog concealed the distance…
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Sony released the PlayStation 2 in the year 2000, and it remains the best-selling video game console of all time primarily because it happened to be the cheapest DVD player on the market at launch.
Sony released the PlayStation 2 in the year 2000, and it remains the best-selling video game console of all time primarily because it happened to be the…
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Tetris borrowed its most familiar tune from a peddler's song.
Tetris borrowed its most familiar tune from a peddler's song. Korobeiniki traces back to a nineteenth-century Russian poem about a peddler and a girl. Its…
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Mario's original manual gives the scenery a disturbing backstory.
Mario's original manual gives the scenery a disturbing backstory. It says the Mushroom People were magically transformed into stones, bricks and plants, and…
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Ghosts in the original 1980 arcade classic Pac-Man do not randomly wander the maze, as each possesses a distinct, hard-coded artificial intelligence routing protocol.
Ghosts in the original 1980 arcade classic Pac-Man do not randomly wander the maze, as each possesses a distinct, hard-coded artificial intelligence routing…
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Twister was heavily criticized and almost pulled from the market in 1966 because competitors accused it of being sex in a box, which sounds like a compliment but was genuinely a scandal at the time.
Twister was heavily criticized and almost pulled from the market in 1966 because competitors accused it of being sex in a box, which sounds like a compliment…
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The original Game Boy traded color for staying power.
The original Game Boy traded color for staying power. Its monochrome display looked modest beside later color rivals, but Nintendo lists up to 30 hours of…
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The PlayStation 2 had a second sales pitch: movie night.
The PlayStation 2 had a second sales pitch: movie night. Sony's console launched in Japan in 2000 with DVD-Video playback as well as games and compatibility…
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A joke about Lara Croft's design became gaming folklore.
A joke about Lara Croft's design became gaming folklore. Toby Gard's remark about accidentally enlarging her chest was repeatedly retold as a literal…
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Christian fundamentalists and concerned parents in the 1980s genuinely believed that playing Dungeons & Dragons was a direct gateway to Satan worship, witchcraft, and actual murder.
Christian fundamentalists and concerned parents in the 1980s genuinely believed that playing Dungeons & Dragons was a direct gateway to Satan worship,…
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The gamers beat their fellow surgeons in a skills test.
The gamers beat their fellow surgeons in a skills test. A 2007 study of 33 surgeons linked past gaming of more than three hours a week with 37% fewer errors…
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Banjo carries Kazooie—until she carries him
The bird lives in the bear's backpack, but her legs can reach down and move the pair faster. Her wings and egg attacks expand their shared moveset too. The…
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Why ancient clay dancers were buried with the dead
Some ancient clay figures were buried with the dead because people believed they could house the souls of the departed.
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Tom Nook's home loans let you repay on your own timetable
In Animal Crossing, the loan carries no interest or repayment deadline. Selling gathered items such as fruit and shells earns the bells used to pay it down.…
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Dropping the sphere into the side ditch guarantees failure
A 15-pound urethane ball that slips into the gutter bypasses the pins entirely, rolling down the side channel instead.
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Metal club faces use specific grooves to shred grass
Grooves channel water, dirt, and grass away from the club face at impact, helping it grip the ball and create backspin.
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Green witches speak exclusively in infuriating rhymes
Her taunts arrive in AABB couplets throughout the journey, making every threat rhyme.
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Zelda keeps introducing its hero asleep on the job
Several adventures begin with Link in bed until someone wakes him into the story. The contrast is useful: the player meets an ordinary, unprepared character…
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Curlers can keep working on a shot after releasing it
Sweeping changes friction along the stone's path, helping it travel farther and affecting how the shot develops. The players are modifying the surface rather…
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Zelda's sword beam can vanish after one hit
In games where sword beams require full health, even a little damage removes your ranged attack. Healing therefore restores more than a safety margin: it…
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Yoshi's 'saddle' is officially a shell
Nintendo has described the red structure on his back as a shell, even though Mario uses it as a seat. Its changing shape across games helps explain the…
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