Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
The children’s game that turns a handkerchief into a chase
Before modern espionage, children practiced dropping fabric behind oblivious targets without getting noticed. The 'it' person must casually stroll behind a…
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The drinking game that turns water into a trap
Visually indistinguishable clear liquids are the ultimate tool for domestic sabotage. By mixing glasses of tap water with high-proof spirits, participants are…
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The Victorian game where wrong rhymes get you hissed
As if regular charades weren't embarrassing enough, this Victorian variant adds a layer of poetic complexity. A team is given a word that rhymes with a secret…
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Dark Souls hides a shortcut back to the starting bonfire
Why build out when you can just build wildly upward? Players spend dozens of hours fighting through terrifying monsters, only to eventually step on a basic…
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Why the back-right bowling pin is so difficult
Due to the natural curve of a right-handed hook, the back right corner pin becomes a mathematical nightmare. It stands perfectly out of reach, mocking your…
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Barbie has starred in more video games than you think
Take a seat, Master Chief. You might think heavy-hitters like Resident Evil or Doom hold the record for franchise longevity, but the plastic queen of Malibu…
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Xbox One Kinect requires a massive proprietary thick cable
A cord thick enough to anchor a small maritime vessel. The peripheral needed heavy-duty wiring to transmit enormous amounts of tracking data, making it…
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Domino blank tiles connect to other blanks in most rulesets
They act as the ultimate wildcard of the bone yard. A totally empty half can seamlessly attach to another completely empty half, creating a weird chain of…
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On a seesaw, a lighter child can balance a heavier one by sitting farther out
To achieve equilibrium, the mass and distance from the center must perfectly cancel each other out on both sides. It is a rigid physics lesson forcefully…
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This legendary broadsword costs twelve rusty cans
Forging the ultimate broadsword requires three pieces of mystical energy, the soul of a deity, and exactly twelve rusty tin cans.
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How four-sided graphics hurt the Sega Saturn
While the entire industry naturally pivoted to three-sided polygons, one hardware team stubbornly designed a dual-CPU architecture entirely around four-sided…
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Why the N-Gage looked ridiculous at your ear
A brilliant way to look completely ridiculous in public. The speaker placement notoriously forced users to hold the thin edge of the device directly against…
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Why video game armor always fits perfectly
Stripping the gear off a defeated giant somehow produces a pristine chest plate that magically shrinks to fit your character's exact measurements.
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Chess has more possible games than atoms in the universe
Also known as the 'Shannon number,' mathematician Claude Shannon calculated that the number of possible chess games is 10^120. Meanwhile, physicists estimate…
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Metal jacks have six points so they land with a spike facing upward
No matter how haphazardly you scatter them, the six-axis geometry ensures they always land with spikes pointing dangerously upward. They are mathematically…
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Repeated thumb pressing can build muscular thumbs while leaving the rest of you neglected
The ultimate asymmetrical workout. Repetitive pressing genuinely causes hypertrophy in the tiny muscles of the hand, giving you incredibly muscular thumbs…
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Final Fantasy heroes ride giant yellow birds
Equestrian travel is far too boring for epic adventures. Instead, warriors carrying swords the size of surfboards traverse massive continents by mounting…
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Ticket to Ride awards bonus points for the longest route
Connecting major cities is important, but building an unnecessarily massive, winding snake of plastic train cars yields a massive final reward. Players will…
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Why a game's easy-mode prompt feels like an insult
When the screen violently flashes a prompt offering to lower the challenge after you die three times, it is pure mockery. The system pretending to be helpful…
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Blackjack got its name from a casino promotion
Casinos desperately wanted people to play Twenty-One, so they offered a massive ten-to-one payout if your hand featured the Jack of Clubs or Spades alongside…
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Kratos was almost blue
The Ghost of Sparta almost became the Ghost of the Mushroom Village. During the early design phase of God of War, Kratos was covered in bright blue war paint…
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Ouija boards were once wholesome family entertainment
Hollywood single-handedly rebranded a cute wooden toy into an interactive portal to hell. Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ouija boards were…
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The puzzle supposedly born from a broken square
Reassembling scattered shapes is supposedly the result of immense historical clumsiness. This ancient geometric puzzle of seven distinct shards carries a…
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Magic the Gathering decks require a minimum of sixty cards
If you try to show up with a heavily concentrated stack of fifty-nine powerful spells, your deck is completely illegal. This strict minimum forces players to…
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