Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Total combinations of a standard 3x3 sliding puzzle
There are exactly 181,440 different ways to arrange those frustrating little sliding squares, and somehow, every single one of them feels like the wrong move.…
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Even Yakuza members queue for claw machines
The criminal underworld has immense respect for arcade etiquette. Despite being part of a vicious street rivalry, menacing men with full back tattoos will…
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The outlaw named Bill was actually born Marion
No wonder he is so incredibly hostile all the time. The lumbering, heavily bearded outlaw who betrays his former gang actually adopted 'Bill' as a desperate…
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You can summon a Star Fox ship in Zelda
Why fight moblins when you could technically be fighting space fighter jets? During development, the Zelda team needed an enemy that flew dynamically to test…
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Monopoly houses must be built evenly across colored blocks
You cannot simply dump four tiny green buildings onto one property while leaving the others completely bare. The rules strict demand balanced development,…
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Super Mario Kart began with two cars on a split screen
Before throwing colorful mascots behind the wheel, the original concept was just a sterile test to see if two players could drive on a split screen…
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Before games, Sega made coin-operated scales
Long before they were bragging about hardware superiority, this corporate giant was literally just weighing people in Hawaii. The name actually stands for…
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Donkey Kong rides rhinos instead of safely walking around
Jungle navigation is much easier when outsourced to heavier mammals. Rather than walking through dangerous briar patches, this large ape will casually mount a…
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Why wrestling chairs are prepared in advance
The spontaneous chaos of pulling a folding chair from nowhere is meticulously planned administrative work. Every supposed foreign object is thoroughly…
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The universe's most powerful weapon has a toddler-level lock
The most powerful weapon in the universe is safeguarded by an intricate security system that essentially requires the intelligence of a moderately clever…
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Why saying Uno puts a target on you
The mandatory yell serves zero strategic purpose other than turning a massive target on your back. It immediately alerts every single player at the table to…
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Battleship players must announce their shots out loud
Instead of a quiet, secretive affair, you are forced to vocalize your blind guesses across the table. Shouting out coordinates like a desperate artillery…
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How a narrow pass can stop a huge army
It does not matter if you control a legion of ten thousand terrifying dragons if they all have to walk through a single tiny valley. Funneling a massive…
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RollerCoaster Tycoon lets you exile unhappy guests
Because why improve your theme park when you can just embrace digital sociopathy? In RollerCoaster Tycoon, your park's rating is heavily influenced by guest…
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The bored bellhop who helped start the yo-yo craze
Walking the dog on a string was literally born out of pure unadulterated boredom. A massive cultural craze sparked in the twenties when a hotel bellhop simply…
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In two-player Uno, Reverse skips your opponent
If you are aggressively dueling exactly one other person, throwing down a directional change fundamentally breaks reality. Since reversing the flow…
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Call of Duty began as a revenge project
Nothing fuels corporate innovation quite like workplace spite. A group of developers who left EA's Medal of Honor team formed Infinity Ward and set out to…
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Edward Fortyhands traps you with your own drinks
Duct-taping massive glass bottles of malt liquor to your hands sounds like a fun weekend activity until basic human biology kicks in. By physically binding…
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Majora's Mask plays its final-day music backward
To aggressively emphasize the bizarre, apocalyptic nature of the impending moon crash, the final day's soundtrack is literally just the main town theme played…
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How to dismantle a Rubik's Cube in seconds
If your brain refuses to solve the six-sided nightmare organically, brute force works perfectly fine. Simply rotate the top layer halfway, jam your thumb…
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Naughty Dog once had a very different name
The studio behind cinematic cinematic masterpieces and post-apocalyptic tragedies once sounded like a supplier of mediocre spreadsheet applications. Founded…
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Shell game relies entirely on visual sleight of hand
Shuffling three cups around with a pea underneath seems like a simple tracking exercise until the operator simply palms the pea. You are staring intensely at…
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World largest jigsaw puzzle features fifty-four thousand
At some point, it stops being a hobby and becomes a lifestyle burden. The largest commercially available picture challenge contains over fifty-four thousand…
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Why gambling tables are covered in green
The universal green felt covering every gambling surface is not a random aesthetic choice. It traces back to illegal gambling rings that operated in public…
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