Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Paintball guns were born on the farm
Farmers used them to mark cattle and trees from a distance; paintball later repurposed the pneumatic tools for recreation.
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Subway Surfers is simply an endless frantic sprint from cops
After a graffiti-spraying character is spotted by a guard and his dog, the game becomes an endless run, dodging trains until the character crashes.
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In Don't Starve, pigs will eat your rotten food
Feed them spoiled food, and the pigs will eat it and leave piles of manure as a reward.
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The Sims 2 can turn dirty dishes into a deadly problem
Leaving enough filth around can trigger death by flies in The Sims 2. An everyday household task becomes a game hazard rather than merely an untidy backdrop.…
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Why freezing paintballs doesn't make them deadlier
Freezing can make paintballs’ fragile shells break before firing, sending them off course rather than making them hit harder.
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Fruit Ninja playfully drops live explosives among the produce
Swipe at a bomb and the fruit-slicing run ends, so players have to hold back their fingers even as fruit flies across the screen.
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Untitled Goose Game lets you ruin a village afternoon
Instead of saving the world, players are tasked with disrupting a village afternoon—honking at children, stealing gardening tools, and hiding shiny objects in…
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Tetherball matches naturally accelerate as the rope tightens
As the cord winds around the pole, the ball’s path gets smaller and it can speed up, making a face-level hit more likely.
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Cyberpunk 2077 puts Keanu Reeves in your head as an unwanted roommate
Johnny Silverhand is a digitized personality sharing V's brain, not a companion who waits outside during private moments. His interruptions turn…
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Mass Effect 3 makes you recapture your space hamster
After the Normandy is refitted, Shepard's little pet can be found loose below deck. Catching it returns the hamster to its cabin enclosure. A commander…
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I Am Bread makes becoming toast a survival challenge
In the game, you flop a piece of bread across dirty floors and dangerous stovetops, trying to reach a heat source without picking up lint or ruining your…
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A water balloon is still a projectile before it becomes a splash
The water's mass is moving toward the target, and bursting does not make that momentum vanish. Medical researchers have documented serious eye injuries from…
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Goat Simulator hides a demonic sacrifice ritual
In a dark corner of the rural map, players can drag several unconscious people into a glowing circle to give the goat supernatural powers and a demonic mask.
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In Factorio, pollution brings angry aliens
As factories burn coal, visible pollution spreads and insectoid locals attack to defend their ecosystem.
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Olympic curling depends on unusually picky rocks
Ailsa Craig, a small Scottish island, supplies granite prized for curling stones. The running surface needs stone that resists water absorption and survives…
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Croquet's Olympic career lasted one Games
Paris 1900 included singles and doubles croquet events, but the sport never returned to the Olympic program. It belongs to the same Games as several other…
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In RollerCoaster Tycoon, you can drown your guests
Players can use the game’s giant tweezers to drop complaining guests into artificial lakes—a decidedly extreme response to a bad review.
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Airsoft leaves tiny plastic orbs everywhere
Airsoft games can leave tiny plastic BBs scattered across woodland fields, where they form a crunchy, unnatural-looking layer on the ground.
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RollerCoaster Tycoon makes nausea a management problem
Thrilling rides can leave guests sick, and vomit on paths creates cleanup work and unhappy visitors. A ride is therefore not successful just because it is…
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Terraria makes you sacrifice the guide to summon a boss
The Guide's Voodoo Doll must be thrown into lava to summon the Wall of Flesh, turning the helpful NPC into the key to the game's next major challenge.
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Winning Four Square meant making the rules
The player who claimed the dominant square could invent rules, including “cherry bombs” meant to knock other children out of the game.
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Papers Please makes stamping fake passports deeply stressful
The game turns document checks into a panic-inducing checklist: verify watermarks and follow rules while racing to earn enough to avoid starvation.
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Basketball's first baskets had to give the ball back by hand
James Naismith asked for boxes and received peach baskets, which he fixed to a gym balcony rail ten feet high. Their closed bottoms caught successful shots,…
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Angry Birds proudly weaponize themselves against structures
To get their stolen eggs back, the birds launch themselves from a slingshot into structures, bringing down obstacles to reach the pigs.
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