Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Skyrim developers spent countless hours trying to figure out why the game's opening carriage ride kept violently launching into the stratosphere during development.
Skyrim developers spent countless hours trying to figure out why the game's opening carriage ride kept violently launching into the stratosphere during…
Discover more
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…
Discover more
Midway's hyper-violent fighting game Mortal Kombat featured fatalities so shockingly gruesome in 1992 that outraged United States senators held congressional hearings about the moral decay of American youth.
Midway's hyper-violent fighting game Mortal Kombat featured fatalities so shockingly gruesome in 1992 that outraged United States senators held congressional…
Discover more
Konami developers added the famously terrifying thick fog to the original 1999 Silent Hill game entirely to mask the severe graphical limitations of the original PlayStation console.
Konami developers added the famously terrifying thick fog to the original 1999 Silent Hill game entirely to mask the severe graphical limitations of the…
Discover more
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…
Discover more
Korobeiniki is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song about a peddler trying to sell goods to a girl, but you almost certainly know it as the inescapable Type-A background music from the Game Boy version of Tetris.
Korobeiniki is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song about a peddler trying to sell goods to a girl, but you almost certainly know it as the inescapable…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Manuals packaged with the original 1985 Super Mario Bros explicitly state that the evil Koopa wizard used dark magic to transform the innocent citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into stones, bricks, and horsetail plants.
Manuals packaged with the original 1985 Super Mario Bros explicitly state that the evil Koopa wizard used dark magic to transform the innocent citizens of the…
Discover more
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…
Discover more
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…
Discover more
Gunpei Yokoi invented the Nintendo Game Boy in 1989 using incredibly outdated and cheap monochrome LCD technology on purpose, adopting a philosophy he called lateral thinking with withered technology.
Gunpei Yokoi invented the Nintendo Game Boy in 1989 using incredibly outdated and cheap monochrome LCD technology on purpose, adopting a philosophy he called…
Discover more
Japanese trade officials strictly regulated the export of the PlayStation 2 console in the year 2000 because they feared its powerful internal components could be repurposed to guide real-world military missiles.
Japanese trade officials strictly regulated the export of the PlayStation 2 console in the year 2000 because they feared its powerful internal components…
Discover more
Lara Croft's famously exaggerated bust size in the original 1996 Tomb Raider game was the direct result of a developer's accidental mouse slip rather than a calculated corporate marketing strategy.
Lara Croft's famously exaggerated bust size in the original 1996 Tomb Raider game was the direct result of a developer's accidental mouse slip rather than a…
Discover more
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,…
Discover more
Surgeons who play video games for at least three hours a week make thirty-seven percent fewer errors in laparoscopic surgery and perform the procedures twenty-seven percent faster than their non-gaming peers.
Surgeons who play video games for at least three hours a week make thirty-seven percent fewer errors in laparoscopic surgery and perform the procedures…
Discover more
Why an Angry Birds character carries a bear in a backpack
Carrying around a helpful animal companion is cute until you realize the horrific logistics of the arrangement. A loud-mouthed avian sits perfectly still…
Discover more
Why ancient clay dancers were buried with the dead
Decorating your living room with squiggly, noise-making pottery seems like a fun aesthetic choice. However, these bizarre objects are historically based on…
Discover more
Tom Nook gives interest-free home loans
Society paints him as a ruthless capitalist, but he is genuinely the most charitable landlord in existence. This fuzzy entrepreneur builds you a custom home…
Discover more
Dropping the sphere into the side ditch guarantees failure
Precision is key when tossing fifteen pounds of urethane toward an objective. The second your aim drifts horizontally by an inch, your expensive equipment…
Discover more
Metal club faces use specific grooves to shred grass
Swinging a heavy stick of iron involves an incredible amount of aggressive friction. The precise lines etched into the flat metal aren't just for aesthetics;…
Discover more
Green witches speak exclusively in infuriating rhymes
Kidnapping someone's sister is villainous, but doing it while strictly adhering to an AABB poetic structure is purely psychotic. This ugly antagonist taunts…
Discover more
Why legendary heroes begin by sleeping through danger
Saving the world is evidently exhausting work before it even officially begins. In almost every iteration of this iconic franchise, the chosen savior starts…
Discover more
Why curlers sweep the ice
Yelling at a teammate while scrubbing the ground with a broom seems completely ridiculous. However, applying intense friction to the frozen surface actually…
Discover more
The legendary sword that stops working when you're hurt
For a divine weapon forged to banish absolute evil, it is surprisingly petty about your immediate physical well-being. It will eagerly fire magical energy…
Discover more
Yoshi’s red hump is actually a saddle
You always thought that red hump on his back was a cute little turtle shell to match his aesthetic. Official lore sketches reveal it is a literal saddle…
Discover more