Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Magnavox Odyssey completely lacked a microprocessor
Its circuits used diodes and transistors instead of a microprocessor, so the console could run without a central processing chip.
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A Nintendo maintenance engineer made a toy the boss wanted to sell
Gunpei Yokoi built an extending arm for his own amusement while working at Nintendo. President Hiroshi Yamauchi noticed it, and the idea became the Ultra Hand…
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Crusader Kings patches can fix problems that sound like medieval satire
A 2026 Crusader Kings III update prevented rulers from being incited into war against themselves. In a game built from titles, claims, relatives, and…
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When studios told journalists what to praise
Studios sometimes sent journalists glossy review guides with advance copies, steering them toward specific game mechanics and away from narrative flaws.
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At baccarat, you barely play
In baccarat, you mostly place a bet: the dealer handles the cards and applies the drawing rules while you wait to see whether your chosen side wins.
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Desk light strips are purely for massive egos
Neon lights may make a gaming setup glow, but adding them to your desk won't improve frame rates.
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Competitive teams utilizing professional mental coaches
The pressure of competing onstage can make players panic, so top esports teams hire sports psychologists to help them stay composed during finals.
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Why Catan changed American board games
Catan helped popularize games in which players keep making meaningful choices instead of being knocked out early. Trade lets someone short of a resource…
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Mirror's Edge highlights paths in bright neon red
Bright red pipes, ramps, and doors guide players through the rooftops, so they can keep moving without stopping to study a map.
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Risk gives defenders the ties—and attackers an extra die
A defender wins equal dice, but a sufficiently large attacking force can roll three dice against two. Those advantages pull in opposite directions, so the…
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Mad libs relies on obliterating standard syntax
Players supply nouns and adjectives before seeing the story, creating often-absurd sentences while practicing parts of speech.
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Why first place gets targeted in kart racers
In some kart racers, the player in first becomes a target: someone trailing behind can launch a flying explosive at the leader near the finish.
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Why baccarat players tear their cards
Fresh decks help prevent card tracking, and players may bend or tear their hands for luck.
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Why Final Fantasy VIII mercenaries still attend school
In Final Fantasy VIII, even heavily trained mercenaries have to follow a rigid academic schedule—so a looming sorceress attack doesn't get them out of class.
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Every legal Rubik's Cube scramble is at most 20 face turns from solved
There are more than 43 quintillion reachable positions, but researchers proved that each has a solution within 20 moves when a half-turn counts as one.…
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Why NBA Jam helps the losing team
The game could make the leading team miss easy shots while letting the trailing team sink flaming baskets from across the court.
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Why Q*bert sounds so angrily unintelligible
The arcade game used a dedicated speech-synthesizer chip to produce random, garbled phrases when Q*bert fell off the pyramid.
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Life Is Strange lets you rewind a small accident into a rescue
In the first episode, Max can see Alyssa get hit by a football, rewind, and warn her. The ball then breaks a window instead. The scene makes time travel…
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Truth or dare forces compliance through peer pressure
There’s no real penalty for refusing a dare; the pressure comes from the group. That expectation can make teenagers choose to risk embarrassment or reveal…
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Original Xbox weighs precisely eight and a half pounds
Its desktop-computer-like internals made it one of the heaviest standard consoles, heavy enough to call for reinforced shelving.
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A poker hand carries Wild Bill Hickok's death story
The Dead Man's Hand is traditionally identified as two black aces and two black eights, linked to the cards Hickok held when he was shot in 1876. The precise…
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Lockpicks are remarkably fragile pieces of metal
A lockpick is a small piece of metal that can break if it’s handled roughly while working inside a lock.
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BioShock was almost about rescuing people from a cult
The original pitch drew on 1970s cult deprogramming, but developers thought arguing with brainwashed followers wouldn’t make exciting gameplay. They replaced…
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Splatoon competitive matches heavily prioritize floor paint
Because the match is decided by how much ground each team covers in its ink, players may ignore opponents to spray unclaimed patches of floor.
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