Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
What card suits once said about medieval society
The four suits in a standard deck of cards were designed to reflect the four pillars of medieval European economy. Spades represented the military, clubs the…
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Modern console controllers heavily borrowed from early Sega
The highly comfortable ergonomic shape and asymmetric joystick layout of today's dominant gaming pads were heavily derived from experimental, chunky…
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Text adventures established modern gaming class roles
The legendary 'holy trinity' of multiplayer gaming roles—tanks, healers, and damage dealers—did not originate in massive graphical RPGs but instead in…
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Angry Birds Space secretly taught orbital physics
When an iconic smartphone game about launching angry birds went to space, the developers partnered with real aerospace engineers. The game accurately…
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Early massive multiplayer games relied on text only
Before advanced polygon graphics, thousands of heavily addicted players navigated vast fantasy worlds entirely by typing intricate command sentences into a…
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The first video game tournament prize was a Rolling Stone subscription
Decades before modern esports arenas filled with screaming fans and massive million-dollar prize pools, the world's very first organized video game tournament…
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Why Space Invaders’ aliens look like sea creatures
The iconic pixelated enemies dominating the early arcade scene visually resemble octopuses, squids, and crabs. The creator borrowed their geometry from marine…
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Sonic first appeared as a fuzzy car air freshener
Before starring in his own blazing fast platformer, the blue blur dangled as a fuzzy air freshener in an arcade racing game called Rad Mobile. It was a subtle…
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How rhythm games can help stroke rehabilitation
Medical researchers have discovered that interactive musical rhythm games are remarkably effective tools for physical therapy in stroke victims. By forcing…
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The Soviet arcade games built to train young people
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union manufactured heavy, military-grade arcade machines designed to train youth in strategic thinking and basic hand-eye…
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Why Tetris players use such strange grips
Despite lacking modern graphical fidelity or violent multiplayer combat, dedicated enthusiasts gather annually to master the classic block-stacking arcade…
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Virtual Falador massacre in online gaming
On June 6, 2006, a minor programming glitch in the popular game RuneScape turned into a legendary day of virtual terror. A player accidentally discovered that…
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Why Nintendo put a gold seal on its games
The iconic Nintendo Seal of Quality was not just an aesthetic marketing gimmick; it was a desperate business maneuver to save a dying industry. Following the…
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Mahjong’s name comes from sparrow-like sounds
The intricate Chinese parlor game of Mahjong heavily relies on thick ivory or plastic tiles being energetically shuffled together on a wooden table. The…
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Duke Nukem Forever was delayed for 15 years
Duke Nukem Forever holds a notorious reputation for suffering one of the most disastrous development cycles in software history. Constantly shifting engines,…
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How Dungeons & Dragons helped create computer games
The complex mechanics of early tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons heavily influenced the very first computer programmers. Because the game relied on…
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Minecraft is fundamentally legally educational
Because of its unparalleled capability to teach spatial reasoning, basic coding, and architectural resource management, schools globally mandate playing the…
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Why Donkey Kong's high score stood for decades
The incredibly legendary Donkey Kong arcade high score remained entirely unbeaten for over three decades until dedicated speedrunners dissected the game's…
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How a coding trick revived old fighting games
Games from twenty years ago are suddenly headlining major global esports tournaments, and it is all thanks to a miraculous programming trick. The…
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How layoffs are fueling a new wave of indie games
The brutal wave of corporate downsizing across major publishers has accidentally ignited a brilliant creative renaissance. Hundreds of fired veteran…
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Why a streaming giant banned its biggest tournament
A massive unsanctioned tournament drew millions of viewers before the streaming giant violently pulled the plug. The organizers were caught utilizing…
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Why modern games eat up your console storage
The push for hyper-realistic graphics and uncompressed audio has caused modern blockbuster games to balloon past 150 gigabytes. This is not just about pretty…
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Why survival games are so hard to put down
There is a very specific psychological magic to waking up virtually naked on a hostile beach and slowly building a towering fortress from raw dirt. Survival…
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Unexpected console update that completely changed how competitive gamers play online
A recent platform patch radically altered skill-based matchmaking, throwing casual players directly into lobbys with absolute sweatlords. The controversial…
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