Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Samus Aran was named after soccer legend Pelé
The Metroid creators adapted her surname, Aran, from Pelé’s real surname, Arantes.
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A perfect 501 darts leg can end in nine throws
Two visits of three treble-20s score 360, leaving 141. A finish such as treble-20, treble-19, and double-12 clears the rest in the required double-out format.…
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The physics trick behind a perfect cup flip
A slight overhang gives the cup a pivot without making it fall early; an upward flick then sends it through a 180-degree turn.
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Roulette wheels have perfectly distributed odd and even slots
Red and black pockets alternate, while the layout avoids clustering odd, even, high, or low numbers in one section.
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Audio looping carefully hides seams in background tracks
A looping track is designed so its ending blends into its beginning, letting a short ambient recording play for hours without an obvious seam.
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The game where you invent fake dictionary definitions
Players get an obscure word and invent plausible but fake definitions to fool the other players. The fun is seeing who can sell their made-up meaning with the…
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Castlevania heroes collect hearts to fuel their items
In Castlevania, collecting floating hearts gives heroes ammunition for items such as holy water rather than restoring health.
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Fall Guys are six feet tall with horrifying skeletons
Their official anatomy shows a twisted, birdlike skeleton, with eyeballs suspended on stalks inside the skull.
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Nintendo had a hotline for stuck gamers
Nintendo staffed its hotline with Game Counselors in Washington state, who used binders of maps to guide callers through tough spots such as the Water Temple.
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Delta time mathematically binds virtual speed to reality
It multiplies movement by the time elapsed between frames, so characters cover the same distance per second regardless of frame rate. Without it, games would…
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Mario's dinosaur ride turned a character into a new set of controls
In Super Mario World, mounting Yoshi gives Mario access to a tongue that grabs enemies and objects, changing how familiar obstacles can be approached. The…
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Spade suit always acts as the trump card
In the card game Spades, every spade outranks cards from the other suits, so even the two of spades can beat an opponent’s highest card if it isn’t a spade.
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Metal Gear turned a hardware limit into stealth
The 1987 game was developed for the MSX2, whose limitations made a screen full of shooting enemies difficult to deliver. The design shifted toward avoiding…
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Running straight into clearly defined map boundaries
A red line on the mini-map can tempt players to test the edge of the game world. Often, the boundary forces them to turn back.
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Stardew Valley farmers can carry hundreds of pumpkins
In Stardew Valley, a farmer can sprint around town with hundreds of pumpkins in a backpack—enough to make any real-world produce run look modest.
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Every question in Go Fish gives away information
To ask for a rank, a player normally needs a card of that rank already in hand. So even an unsuccessful request tells everyone something about the asker.…
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Why smashing your keyboard cannot fix lag
Lag comes from a stuttering internet connection, not the keyboard; pounding the keys won't make the connection recover.
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Why men are more likely to throw rock first
Untrained men are more likely to open with rock, so choosing paper gives you an edge in a game of rock-paper-scissors.
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Pac-Man ghosts may reveal where they're going
Their pupils point toward the direction they’re about to move, giving you a clue to their next turn.
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Twitch chat took sixteen days to finish one Pokémon game
In 2014, Twitch Plays Pokémon translated viewers' messages into button presses. Thousands of competing instructions made routine movement chaotic, yet the…
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Electronic Arts original logo consisted of basic shapes
The early logo was made up of a square, a circle, and a triangle.
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Opening wooden chests requires dramatic effort
Even while monsters are chewing on your legs, unlocking a wooden chest can force you to sit through a slow, three-second animation.
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The game so broken trucks could drive through mountains
Released in 2003, Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing had no collision detection, so trucks could pass through mountains and accelerate endlessly in…
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Jet Set Radio skaters tag walls using massive spray cans
In Jet Set Radio, skaters carry aerosol cans nearly as large as their torsos, exaggerating graffiti gear for visual style rather than realism.
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