Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
What makes cheap plastic miniatures chemically risky
Those grey little warriors are born from a chemical nightmare. Polyvinyl chloride requires volatile plasticizers to remain flexible, meaning they slowly leach…
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A mystery game you can finish in 0.9 seconds
Blink and you genuinely miss the entire experience. A specific MS-DOS mystery title can be completed in zero point nine seconds if you simply hit the exact…
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Jeopardy contestants pay to reach the show
Unless you actually secure the victory, you are paying for the privilege of losing. The notoriously difficult trivia challenge outright forces all challengers…
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Why Paris once banned crosswords
Government officials were completely convinced that newspaper grids were being used by enemies to pass highly classified coded messages. So, in a fit of pure…
Discover moreTomb Raider environments kill players with flat spikes
The jagged traps in the earliest polygonal tombs are actually completely flat, two-dimensional textures. The code merely checks if the player touches the…
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Taboo heavily restricts your vocabulary to explain concepts
Trying to describe a refrigerator without using the words cold, ice, food, or appliance forces you to sound like a bewildered time traveler. It brilliantly…
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D&D was rejected by game publishers
Imagine looking at the foundation of modern nerd culture and saying, 'Nah, seems boring.' Traditional publishers completely rejected D&D in the 1970s because…
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Why sniper rifles work like shotguns in games
Despite being engineered for engagements thousands of meters away, players will gleefully run around tiny hallways using long-range scopes. Firing a massive…
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Pac-Man escape tunnels wrap directly side to side
When trapped between spectral enemies, ducking into the side exits is your only hope. The map seamlessly teleports you from the left edge straight to the…
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Collectors bought an extremely rare prototype of the cancelled Nintendo PlayStation console for 360,000 dollars
Someone out there literally paid the market value of a beautiful suburban home for a piece of yellowing plastic that cannot even play modern games. This…
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Why Splatoon music works without understandable words
Since the vocal tracks are explicitly designed to be completely incomprehensible cephalopod jargon, the composers relied heavily on thick synth basslines. The…
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Street Fighter III Third Strike uses a hip-hop soundtrack
Instead of traditional, intense orchestral scores, every stage bumps smooth, rhythmic beats that perfectly match the fluid animation. It completely changes…
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Jump ropes dictate perfectly strict parabolic arc lengths
To clear a human body, a swinging rope must mathematically form a descending parabola governed by centrifugal force and gravity. If your timing is off by a…
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Gears of War 3 features a character shouting about cereal
In a bleak, gray world completely destroyed by subterranean monsters, one incredibly enthusiastic character spends his time screaming about whole grain…
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Sudoku standard rules ignore diagonal line repeats
While columns and rows strictly enforce non-repeating digits, the angled paths are total anarchy. You can stack identical numbers perfectly from corner to…
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Changing full outfits occurs directly during combat
While a terrifying monster is bearing down on you, pausing allows you to seamlessly slip into a completely different wardrobe. You can safely discard your…
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Guess Who faces came from an ad agency
The distinct faces you interrogate your friends about were heavily based on people wandering around the creators own advertising agency. Yes, somebody at an…
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You can play Resident Evil 2 as tofu
Once you beat the terrifying zombies with actual humans, you can replay the nightmare as a giant, jiggling block of raw soy protein. The team literally just…
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Why being “It” is unfair in tag
When you are 'It', you are forced to react to the unpredictable movements of multiple targets simultaneously. The entire schoolyard is mathematically rigged…
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Half-Life’s crowbar was almost breakable
Swinging a heavy iron tool at heavily armored soldiers eventually takes a toll. The developers initially programmed the iconic red weapon to shatter after too…
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Bowling pins are solid maple inside
Beneath that shiny plastic exterior lies a solid, heavy chunk of dense maple. They aren't just hollow husks waiting to fall over; they are densely packed tree…
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Doom runs on a pregnancy test
In case you ever wanted to rip and tear while waiting to find out if you are going to be a parent. Hardware enthusiasts have genuinely hooked up the classic…
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League of Legends makes billions from virtual outfits
The most profitable free game in the world makes all its money off sheer vanity. Riot Games doesn't charge you a dime to play League of Legends. Instead, they…
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Twister mats utilize highly specific tear-resistant vinyl
The plastic sheet has to endure the concentrated friction of human elbows and knees frantically sliding around. It is a masterpiece of synthetic polymer…
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