Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Burn cards prevent players from reading deck tops
Dealers discard the top card before a deal so no one can use a marked card on top of the deck to gain an advantage.
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A tiny sinkhole that swallows an entire town
In Donut County, you control a sinkhole that grows as it swallows objects. It starts with a brick and eventually pulls down cars, buildings, and a community…
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Cardboard standees dictate entirely specific fluting direction
The cardboard’s corrugation needs to run vertically for the standee to stay upright; horizontal fluting can leave it floppy.
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Checkers forces a jump if an opponent is vulnerable
A jump is mandatory when an opponent's piece is diagonally in front of yours and the space behind it is empty.
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Your Wii could glow all night over a message
A received message made the Wii’s disc slot glow blue, and the light stayed on until you turned on the console and cleared the notification.
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Your virtual farm can use real John Deere tractors
Farming Simulator includes licensed, real-world John Deere tractors, turning the game into an interactive catalog for heavy machinery fans.
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Sonic can survive a hit with just one ring
An ordinary damaging hit scatters the rings Sonic is carrying instead of immediately costing a life. Reclaiming even one can restore that protection for…
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Why riffle shuffling slowly destroys playing cards
Repeatedly bending the cards backward breaks down the fibers inside the pasteboard, weakening its stiffness.
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Folding is the most frequent action in Texas Hold'em
Unlike the bluffs and big bets in movies, folding is what players do most often in Texas hold 'em.
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Mario's famous outfit solved a tiny graphics problem
With only a 16-by-16-pixel character to work with, Miyamoto needed features that read instantly. A cap avoided drawing hair, a mustache helped define the…
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Why snooker pockets reject imperfect shots
Their rounded jaws make even slightly off-center shots bounce back out instead of dropping into the pocket.
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Nintendogs utilizes a microphone to recognize commands
Players had to speak commands to teach their digital puppies tricks, which could mean shouting “sit” at a handheld on the bus when a stubborn dog wouldn't…
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The Pyraminx waited a decade to reach toy shops
Uwe Meffert created his tetrahedral twisty puzzle in 1970, according to his company's history, but brought it to market in 1981. Its four-sided shape offered…
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Team Fortress 2 made hats a second kind of scoreboard
Cosmetic items let players display something beyond their match score: a favorite look, a rare find, or a collection assembled over time. The hat needn't make…
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One extra object can switch off an RPG hero's sprint
A carry-weight system compares the inventory total with a fixed limit. Crossing that boundary by a fraction can trigger the same movement penalty as a much…
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The card game once banned as a gambling threat
Syracuse banned the deck during World War I because it was associated with illegal betting. The ban was later lifted.
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Mahjong tile distributions enforce total chaos
In a standard 144-tile set, players have limited knowledge of their opponents' hands. Reading discards takes skill, but a lucky sequence can still let a…
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Why Candy Crush feels like a slot machine
Flashing lights, reward sounds, and limited lives recreate parts of a slot machine's reward loop, making a puzzle game feel hard to put down.
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Fall through the floor and the world resets
In the game, falling through the floor triggers a fade to black, then puts you back on solid ground with a small health penalty.
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A video game stretched one creature to other planets
In Noby Noby Boy, players stretch a creature, and their combined in-game lengths are pooled online. The shared total gradually reaches other planets in a…
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Resident Evil 3 speedrunners memorize exact zombie steps
Their routes are predictable enough that speedrunners can slip through narrow halls without firing, timing their moves to avoid the zombies' grabs.
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Gordon Freeman has a doctorate from MIT
Despite his doctorate in theoretical physics from MIT, Gordon Freeman’s usual problem-solving tools are buttons, boxes, and a crowbar.
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A gaming session can pull you toward the screen without moving it
As attention narrows, it is easy to lean forward and stay there while the match continues. The screen keeps demanding another decision; your position stops…
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The platformer where a bird mocks your every move
Banjo-Kazooie paired a quiet bear with Kazooie, a wisecracking bird who constantly mocked the characters—and even the player’s moves—as they searched for…
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