Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
In Fallout, even strangers need your help
A main quest to find your kidnapped child can be interrupted by strangers asking you to clear bandits from a remote farm with just two residents and no…
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Mass Effect 2 lets you save the galaxy and neglect the fish
Shepard's aquarium needs feeding between missions. Ignore it and the fish can die while you are busy with much larger emergencies. The game puts a tiny…
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Why cowboys ate beans straight from the can
The classic campfire image is a cowboy scooping cold beans straight from a tin can—a simple meal of preserved food.
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I Am Bread makes reaching a toaster an ordeal
You control a slice of bread by gripping surfaces with its corners and flopping across the room. Dirty surfaces reduce its edibility, so the shortest route…
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Farming Simulator turned harvesting into an esport
In the Farming Simulator League, teams race to harvest grain and deliver bales efficiently. Winning depends on coordinating machines and timing the work, not…
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Spore let players populate the game with their own creatures
Its creature editor turned bodies, limbs, and faces into parts players could combine and share through the Sporepedia. Creating an alien was only the start:…
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Goat Simulator made bugs part of the attraction
The goat can crash through a world whose physics happily turn ridiculous. Instead of presenting every glitch as something to hide, the game sold chaotic,…
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Why Death Stranding's names are so literal
The same universe features Heartman, whose heart literally stops every 21 minutes.
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Train Simulator sells a railway collection one piece at a time
Its add-on catalog offers separate routes and locomotives rather than a single world everyone must buy in full. Collecting everything can turn a modest game…
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The funeral scene that became a gaming meme
The game turned a solemn military funeral into a prompt to press a key to pay respects, and the awkward moment became an internet meme.
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When marbles were playground currency
Children used marbles as playground currency, winning or losing their glass collections in games.
Discover moreSpin the Bottle turned a glass bottle into a machine for choosing who you kiss
It emerged in the 1920s as a rebellious kissing game, turning a spin into adolescent romantic roulette.
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The ancient version of jacks used sheep bones
Ancient Greek children played a version of jacks by tossing sheep knucklebones into the air.
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Bayonetta's hair is part outfit, part supernatural weapon
Her magic uses it to channel enormous attacks and demonic summons, tying her appearance directly to combat. The same character also uses guns and other…
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Water balloons began as a failed sock
The first water balloons came from a failed attempt to make waterproof socks: the inventor filled the leaky latex prototypes with water and tossed them at…
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The Swedish version of Duck Duck Goose got violent
In the Swedish version, a player secretly dropped a token behind someone. If that person failed to notice, they became the “goose” and were beaten while…
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Mass Effect fans fought to romance Garrus
Garrus wasn't initially a romance option; fans pushed for the scarred alien sniper to become one.
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Tiddlywinks completely requires intensely frustrating discs
Players flick small discs into a cup, and adults took the game seriously enough to form elite university societies in the 1950s.
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Sekiro heavily requires fiercely precise katana deflections
Well-timed deflections build an enemy’s posture meter until it breaks, while hesitation can leave you exposed.
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The Witcher turned its glitchy horse into an April Fools star
Roach's rooftop appearances and strange movements became so recognizable that CD Projekt Red built a 2016 joke video around her. It presented the horse's…
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Bloodborne deeply demands highly aggressive blood splashing
Aggressive counterattacks let players regain health, making close-range fighting central to survival.
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Why pillow fights can cause real concussions
Densely packed pillows swung like flails can hit hard enough to smash a bedside lamp—turning a slumber-party game into a real injury risk.
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Roman soldiers trained with a giant game of hopscotch
Roman soldiers leaped through large courts in full armor to build leg strength.
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Pick up sticks relies on incredibly precise hand movements
Some Native American cultures played a version with wheat straws, carefully removing pieces without disturbing the rest of the pile.
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