Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Free Parking gives you nothing in official Monopoly
The official rules award no money for landing on Free Parking; it’s simply a space where nothing happens.
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The chess piece that can visit every square
A knight can follow a sequence called a Knight's Tour that visits all 64 squares exactly once; millions of valid routes exist.
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Doom named its biggest gun with an expletive
BFG stands for Big Fucking Gun, a name that trades scientific grandeur for exactly what the player wants to know. Its enormous green blast makes the joke…
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Tabletop roleplaying required heavy miniature use early on
Early tabletop roleplaying groups often relied on miniatures and grid maps, using rulers to measure movement and spell effects.
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Why gamers lean toward the screen when it matters
Leaning toward the screen is a visible cue that the match has become serious—and a way to signal to everyone nearby that playtime is over.
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Pompeii's ashes preserved evidence of ancient marbles
Archaeologists found small spherical objects resembling modern marbles in Pompeii's ruins, evidence that people played with them in the Roman era.
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Why Nintendo removed crosses from American games
Nintendo’s early American localization rules barred religious imagery and even mild references to the afterlife, so games lost crosses and statues along with…
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The childhood bug hunt behind Pokémon
After urbanization paved over many of his childhood insect-hunting grounds, Satoshi Tajiri set out to recreate the experience digitally for city kids.
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Professional pool requires players to call their exact shots
Before each shot, players must call the object ball and pocket; sinking a different ball or using a different pocket can bring a penalty.
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A new game manual's smell came from its materials
Paper, printing inks, coatings, and binding materials can release volatile compounds. Their mixture gives a freshly opened booklet a distinctive smell that…
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Doom became so popular colleges had to ban it
Doom’s 1993 deathmatch mode clogged university networks, forcing IT staff to use software that hunted down and terminated Doom packets.
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Before Sonic, Sega had a spaceship with feet
Fantasy Zone's Opa-Opa can fly through its colorful world or walk along the ground. Defeated enemies drop coins that buy upgrades, so shooting also funds…
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Swimming changes a game's entire movement problem
On land, a jump follows a familiar arc and the floor gives you a reference point. Underwater, designers must handle movement up and down as well as sideways,…
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How EA cracked the Sega Genesis
In 1990, EA engineers reverse-engineered the Genesis hardware and built their own cartridges, giving the company leverage to negotiate a cheaper licensing…
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Driving through endless wasteland sand to collect scrap
Even with a muscle car at your disposal, Mad Max keeps sending you out to collect tiny scraps of metal from the sand.
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Why easy mode can feel like cheating
A damage-reducing difficulty setting can feel like cheating because its slider stays there as a reminder that you lowered the challenge after struggling with…
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Even spin the bottle can be rigged by your floor
An uneven floor or a sticky spot can change how the bottle spins and where it stops, making the result less random than it looks.
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Axel is an anagram of Lea with a mandatory X
Lea becomes Axel when the organization scrambles his name and adds an X—the alias-making rule used for its members. The fire-wielding operative was once an…
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Why players quit just before losing
Some players disconnect just before the final scoreboard appears, denying the winner the finishing animation. It’s a small act of spite that can spare the…
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American bingo boards contain exactly 24 numbered spots
The card has 25 squares in all, with a free space in the center and numbers in the other 24.
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Professional rosters disbanding after a single loss
Some esports organizations have dissolved entire rosters after a fourth-place finish in a major qualifier, despite months spent building team chemistry and a…
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Zelda lets players build machines the designers never individually scripted
In Tears of the Kingdom, Ultrahand joins objects that then interact through the game's physics. Wheels, fans and improvised bodies can produce working…
Discover moreKingdom Hearts made Goofy the royal guard's shield specialist
At Disney Castle, Goofy is Captain of the Royal Knights. Instead of a sword, he fights with a shield, blocking attacks and charging into enemies. The…
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San Jose has a giant permanent Monopoly board
As if regular Monopoly didn't drag on long enough, California decided to make it a physical cardiovascular workout. Built in 1992, the granite board holds the…
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