Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
The wildest foosball move is against the rules
Under ITSF rules, spinning a figure more than a full turn before or after striking the ball is illegal. The degrees on either side are counted separately.…
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Standard square playing tiles are explicitly 45mm wide
That standard size keeps tiles aligned in a grid and makes it easier to mix and match sets.
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Throwing an explosive and running directly into it
The strategic act of tossing a highly destructive projectile over cover is often ruined by a sudden urge to charge forward. You end up accidentally detonating…
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A strange-looking die can still be fair if its faces share the same symmetry
A cube is only one shape whose faces are geometrically equivalent. Other polyhedra can offer the same absence of a preferred face, which helps explain the…
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How Roblox creators turn Robux into real money
Creators can earn Robux by building games and experiences, then convert the virtual currency into real money. Some teenagers have used those earnings to buy…
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A Sims patch stopped characters trying for a baby with the Grim Reaper
The Sims 3 produced wonderfully specific bug fixes because ordinary life systems also had to cope with supernatural characters. A romance interaction could…
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Cuphead's cartoon look began with thousands of paper drawings
The team drew and inked animation on paper, then scanned and colored it digitally. They even reproduced the small imperfections of old cartoons, from shifting…
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One developer built Stardew Valley's first release
Eric Barone spent about four and a half years creating Stardew Valley 1.0, handling the programming, art, music, and writing himself. The farm's apparently…
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Fishing gives action games permission to slow down
A fishing minigame swaps the main adventure's demands for a small loop: cast, wait, react, collect. That contrast can make a quiet side activity appealing…
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This game rewards clicking mayonnaise 10,000 times
My Name Is Mayo builds its entire joke around tapping a jar. Repeated clicks unlock stories, costumes, and trophies, with a milestone at 10,000 clicks. The…
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Your mousepad may be a graveyard of dead skin
Dead skin can build up on a mousepad, especially where your hand rests. Scraping the surface may reveal more than a simple discoloration.
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Video games let the apocalypse wait for side quests
A meteor can be seconds from impact, yet the game still lets you stop and collect ten rare herbs for a chef.
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Go Fish began as a sophisticated literary game
Go Fish’s ancestor was a 16th-century literary card game. Over time, the activity evolved into a matching game for children.
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Power hours turn drinking into a minute-by-minute chore
A playlist sets the pace, with a required sip at every musical transition—sometimes every minute—turning a drink into an endurance test.
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Why Simon Says makes your body disobey you
The game triggers an automatic urge to follow an instruction, so players can move before they consciously catch that “Simon says” was omitted.
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Burst mechanics function as panic buttons when losing badly
In some fighting games, a once-per-match energy burst can interrupt an opponent’s combo, giving a losing player a way to break free.
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Garry's Mod rewards you for finding its creator
The achievement unlocks only when you join a server where Garry Newman, the game’s creator, is playing—turning a chance encounter into a completionist’s goal.
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Your Skyrim follower can set off the trap you avoided
Followers do not automatically share your careful route through a dungeon. A companion can step on a pressure plate behind you and activate a mechanism you…
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BioShock's Big Daddy voice came through a tube
The voice actor read verses through a cardboard cylinder, an unusual recording setup behind the character’s eerie voice.
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A teacher helped put Atlantic City on the Monopoly board
Ruth Hoskins brought a homemade version of the game to Atlantic City in 1929, where local players adapted it with familiar street names. Those names traveled…
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Glancing at another screen in split-screen multiplayer
A quick glance at a friend’s section can reveal their moves and help you counter them—though you may have to pretend you guessed.
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Metal Gear Solid 3 makes you climb one ladder for minutes
The climb lasts several minutes as a haunting vocal track swells and you hold forward, turning a simple ladder into a test of patience.
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Punching massive trees yields perfect planks
In some video games, a few punches can turn a massive tree into neatly cut planks—a shortcut that skips the work of felling and milling real lumber.
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Invisible walls block completely open fields
They keep players inside the intended playable area, even when the terrain looks open.
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