Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
The strange logic behind rock-paper-scissors
The ultimate global conflict resolution tool, relying entirely on the baffling logic that a flat palm somehow fundamentally defeats a solid rock.
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Why people pay to shoot friends with paintballs
Paying exorbitant fees to run around a muddy forest and endure welts from high-velocity gelatin capsules, all under the guise of team building.
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Why Dungeons & Dragons needs shared imagination
Dungeons and Dragons strips away digital screens, forcing adults to sit around a table pretending to be elves. It is basically intensive improvisational…
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Why Twister was once called scandalous
Twister was heavily denounced by critics as overly promiscuous upon release. Getting awkwardly entangled with neighbors was apparently terrifying to mid…
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Town guards can repeat the same arrow-to-the-knee line thousands of times
Approaching a town guard only to hear the exact same line about taking an arrow to the knee for the thousandth consecutive time.
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Kicking a small pouch so it never hits the dirt
Standing in a circle aggressively lofting a tiny pellet-filled pouch with your shoes, usually resulting in pulled hamstrings and broken nearby lamps.
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Why the Rubik’s Cube makes people give up
A maddening three-dimensional combination puzzle that either takes ten quick twists to solve or sits completely jumbled on your desk for the next fifteen years.
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Guessing obscure words to fill little squares
Torturing yourself with incredibly vague hints just to write letters in a grid, mostly to prove to yourself that your linguistic prowess is superior to a…
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Placing numbers in a grid without repeating them
A strangely addictive activity where you stare angrily at a nine-by-nine square until you finally figure out where the number four logically has to go.
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Smacking a silver sphere with plastic flippers
Relying strictly on momentum and frantic button mashing to keep a heavy metal ball from falling down a tragic hole while colored lights flash violently in…
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Professional card players mostly rely on sheer luck
Despite the brooding sunglasses and intense stares, card tournaments are heavily dictated by random shuffles. Skill definitely matters, but ultimately the…
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Spending real rent money on digital hats
Microtransactions successfully convinced millions of players to sacrifice portions of their actual paycheck to unlock cosmetic outfits for a polygon.
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Why virtual chores feel rewarding in games
Grinding in RPGs perfectly mirrors the drudgery of a tedious desk job, yet we willingly sacrifice our free time to watch arbitrary stats go up.
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Pressing the exact same button sequence for decades
A very specific sequence of directional inputs and basic button presses has been hardcoded into hundreds of different titles. Memorizing this useless sequence…
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Spectators shouting terrible unprompted advice
There is always someone sitting right behind your shoulder confidently telling you how to play, despite them lacking any actual skill themselves.
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Paying extra cash for unfinished storylines
Publishers boldly release half a product at full price, then demand additional funds months later just so you can witness the actual ending.
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Smashing plastic controllers over minor setbacks
Losing a digital match occasionally compels supposedly mature adults to violently hurl their expensive electronics against the nearest sturdy wall in pure fury.
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Why video game food heals bullet wounds
In almost every virtual universe, catastrophic physical trauma can be completely cured by furiously consuming random foods mid-battle. A character will take…
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How tabletop RPGs invented lawful good and chaotic evil
Classifying human beings as chaotic evil or lawful good didn't come from profound philosophical institutions. It was entirely fabricated by nerdy fantasy…
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Scrabble's letter scores came from one newspaper
The point values assigned to letters were based on examining a single mundane daily newspaper decades ago. Modern computational linguistics constantly points…
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Darts utilizing dense tungsten for tighter accuracy
Throwing lightweight plastic at a corkboard usually ends in miserable failure. Professional throwing spikes are manufactured from incredibly dense tungsten,…
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Why Tetris pieces are called tetrominoes
The iconic falling blocks from the classic puzzle game are actually called tetrominoes. The name cleverly blends the Greek prefix for four, since every single…
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Bluffing card matches thrived in dangerous saloons
Poker exploded in popularity among outlaws and prospectors because it was easy to cheat and required deep psychological manipulation. Winning often depended…
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Why rulers once banned chess
Chess has been repeatedly banned by paranoid monarchs who feared it promoted strategic rebellious thinking. Turns out, teaching peasants how to corner a king…
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