Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Roulette balls have a surprising casino name
In casino terminology, the small ball that spins around a roulette wheel is called a “pill.”
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Your Xbox once whispered Apollo transmissions
Leave the green dashboard idle long enough, and it plays garbled audio from the Apollo moon missions—a bit of eerie space-history ambience while you wait.
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Cleaning raw sewage out of a beautiful digital city
In Cities: Skylines, placing a water pump downstream from a drain can send sewage into the drinking supply and make residents sick. The game turns a basic…
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A free Xbox was one of Microsoft's early proposals
Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley recalled suggestions that the new machine should be free or eventually run Windows. The team was still fighting to establish…
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Tomb Raider surprised players with a T. rex
In the original game's Lost Valley, exploration suddenly leads to a huge dinosaur. Lara's familiar weapons and movement have to handle an enemy on a…
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High sugar intake directly impairs hand-eye coordination
A rise in blood glucose can cause small involuntary tremors, making precise movements harder. The effect can interfere with coordination, but it won’t…
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World of Warcraft turned a South Park title into an achievement
The game's Make Love, Not Warcraft achievement asks players to hug a dead enemy before the enemy releases their spirit. Its name references the episode that…
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Croft Manor's locked doors helped sell a house you could barely explore
Level designer Heather Gibson described the original manor as a training area and said many closed doors were there to make it feel realistic, not to hide…
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Obama was gifted The Witcher 2—and never played it
In 2011, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave Obama the game as a showcase of CD Projekt Red, a source of national pride in Poland. Obama later said he…
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A tag match can make reaching your own corner the whole story
One partner fights while the other waits to be tagged in. Keeping an opponent away from that corner turns a small stretch of ring into a dramatic obstacle.…
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Protective collection sleeves are manufactured from plastic
Clear polypropylene sleeves help keep collectible paper pristine, but making the plastic uses crude oil—millions of barrels a year, according to the claim.
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Why esports referees watch players from behind
Referees stand behind players to watch for unauthorized communication and macro use, monitoring their keystrokes and conversations during competition.
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Elden Ring was successfully beaten using a dance pad mat
The player mapped dodge rolls to foot stomps, turning each fight into a full-body challenge.
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In Liar’s Dice, confidence beats certainty
Players roll in secret and bluff about how many threes are on the table, so confidence can matter more than having a strong hand.
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Caloric burn increases slightly from an elevated pulse
The extra calorie burn from stress is marginal; sitting still and snacking can easily erase it.
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Pac-Man turned tiny payments into billions of dollars
Guinness estimates that players spent about $2.5 billion on roughly 10 billion arcade plays by 1999, with cabinet sales adding more. The business repeated a…
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Two jacks show just one eye
In a familiar Anglo-American deck, the jacks of hearts and spades are drawn in profile, unlike the front-facing jacks of clubs and diamonds. That small design…
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The toxic moon dust behind Portal 2's portals
In Portal 2, Cave Johnson has moon rock ground into conversion gel so portals can be placed on almost any surface. The dust is toxic, which helps explain his…
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Nintendo Game Boy relied on a heavily blurred green screen
Without a backlight, its green screen was hard to see in dim light and blurred fast-moving games into smudges. The system still sold millions.
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Nintendo fought Blockbuster over the instruction booklets
In 1989, Nintendo sued over photocopied manuals handed out with rented cartridges. Blockbuster agreed to stop copying the booklets, but the rentals continued.…
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Hardware cursors bypass the game engine to reduce input lag
The operating system draws the pointer directly over the application, avoiding the game's software-rendering pipeline—even if the game itself is lagging.
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Some orchestras record scores on the first try
Tight budgets and schedules can leave orchestras with little rehearsal time, so musicians may read complex scores for the first time as recording begins.
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Leave Sonic idle and he gets impatient
Take your hands off the controls for a few seconds, and Sonic breaks the fourth wall, glares at the screen, and taps his sneaker impatiently.
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Stardew Valley farmers never require actual sleep
At 2 a.m., passing out sends you home and costs you some money, but you wake up a few hours later ready to get back to work.
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