Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Half-Life lets you overhear a very ordinary lab complaint
Just before the interdimensional disaster, you can hear lab staff grumbling about a ruined microwave meal—a mundane bit of office life in a high-tech facility.
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Corporate wikis entirely dedicated to tracking missed dates
The fan-made term tracks delays between promised and actual releases; some updates billed as coming “next week” took six years to arrive.
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The Met owns a book that opens into a domino set
A nineteenth-century case shaped like a small book contains thirty-six dominoes, many cut from bone. Its sliding lid and decorative inlays conceal a game…
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Halo's Warthog uses real-world tire treads
Fans noticed that the Warthog's tread pattern matches real-world off-road tires—a familiar detail in the middle of a galactic war.
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When Lara Croft's hair brought PCs to their knees
Tomb Raider’s 2013 PC release introduced AMD’s TressFX hair simulation for Lara. Rather than moving the ponytail as one rigid piece, it modeled many strands…
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How bumping an Xbox 360 could ruin a disc
While the console was running, moving or bumping it could make the disc scrape against the drive and leave a destructive circular gouge.
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Tetris four line clears provide maximum score jumps
The game rewards clearing four rows at once, so players often leave a well for the long straight piece—accepting the risk of waiting for it to appear.
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How croquet brought men and women onto the same field
Introduced in England in the 1850s, croquet was one of the first widely accepted outdoor lawn games where men and women could compete together in public.
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French court cards gave kings historical names
A traditional Parisian pattern associated the kings with figures such as David, Julius Caesar, Alexander, and Charlemagne. Those names belong to that design…
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Option selects automatically choose optimal attacks for you
By entering several commands in a specific rhythm, players can make the game select a counterattack based on the opponent’s situation, automating part of a…
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Mega Man's health bar offers no protection from floor spikes
In the original Mega Man, touching spikes means instant death, even during the brief invulnerability after another hit. Ordinary attacks can reduce your…
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Why gamers spin around before leaving spawn
Players spin around to warm up their thumbs before a match—though it won’t stop them from getting eliminated.
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Plastic disc cases take centuries to completely decompose
Polypropylene cases can persist in landfills for centuries because the plastic breaks down very slowly.
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Pokemon centers heal monsters in exactly three seconds
A nurse takes the injured Pokémon, and a short jingle later—about three seconds—they emerge healed, no matter how badly they were hurt.
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Monkeys tracked a moving ball even after it disappeared
In a study of a screen-based interception task, macaques had to anticipate the path of a ball during an invisible part of its journey. Activity in their…
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Jerry Lawson's team helped make changing games as easy as changing a cartridge
At Fairchild, Lawson led engineering work on the Channel F, released in 1976 with interchangeable ROM cartridges. Different games could share one console…
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The DualShock made the controller part of the impact
Motors turn off-center weights inside the grips, producing vibration you can feel while holding the controller. Different motor effects can distinguish a…
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Mass Effect's galaxy is a stack of paintings you can fly through
BioWare's Casey Hudson explained that artists drew inspiration from space photography, including Hubble images, then painted separate layers for the game.…
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The dimples on playing cards help them slide
Many decks have an embossed finish rather than a completely flat surface. Its tiny depressions reduce broad surface contact and help the cards handle…
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Sorry pawns strictly move backwards on specific card draws
In Sorry!, drawing a 4 sends your pawn backward, turning a move forward around the board into a frustrating setback.
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Brawl gives cartoon battles an operatic entrance
Super Smash Bros. Brawl's main theme uses a Latin-singing choir to introduce a game where Nintendo characters fight with wildly improbable weapons. The grand…
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Among Us crewmates have surprisingly simple anatomy
When an impostor eliminates a crewmate, the body splits in half to reveal no organs—just a single oversized cartoon thigh bone.
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Why casino carpets look so chaotic
Busy patterns also help hide spills and stains, so the carpets can be both visually chaotic and practical.
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The helmet reveal that changed Samus Aran
At the end, Samus removes her helmet, revealing a woman beneath the armor—a surprise that challenged the expectation that space-faring heroes were male.
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