Pinball was banned in most major cities from the early 1940s to the mid 1970s because it was considered a game of chance and therefore gambling. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.history.com/news/that-time-america-outlawed-pinball
Gaming
WTF Fun Fact – Wendy’s Free Fantasy Game
In 2019, fast food chain Wendy’s released a free to download fantasy tabletop role-playing game, similar to Dungeons & Dragons, titled Feast of Legends. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Wendy’s Made a Tabletop RPG Where You Battle Ronald McDonald – IGN
WTF Fun Fact – World Record Crap Roll
In 2009, Patricia Demauro brought $100 to a craps table in Atlantic City. Four hours and 18 minutes later, she had rolled 154 times, a world record for craps rolls. The odds of accomplishing this is 1 in 1.56 trillion. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1901663,00.html
WTF Fun Fact – Nevada State Prison Casino
From 1932 to 1967, there was a casino called the “Bullpen” in a stone building on the grounds of the Nevada State prison in Carson City. Inmates could play blackjack, craps, poker, and even bet on sports. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: The Casino – Nevada State Prison
WTF Fun Fact – KFConsole
KFC, in partnership with Cooler Master, launched a 4K, 240FPS VR-ready gaming console with a built-in chicken warmer known as the KFConsole. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: KFConsole | Cooler Master
WTF Fun Fact – Type-in Programs
In the early days of home computers (late 1970’s to early 80’s), computer magazines featured code listings that readers would spend hours typing into their computer in order to play a game or have a certain program. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Type-in program – Wikipedia
WTF Fun Fact – Monogram Tower
In 2019, luxury fashion label Louis Vuitton created a Jenga-style game made out of plexiglass. The set, which is simply named the “monogram tower” on their website, retailed for $2400. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Jenga! Louis Vuitton’s new game will cost you $2,400 (nypost.com)
WTF Fun Fact – PacManhattan
In 2004, NYU students created a real-world version of Pac-Man entitled PacManhattan, in which a player dressed as Pac-Man had to run around the city avoiding students dressed as ghosts. The game used mobile phone GPS signals to track their positions. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Pac Manhattan
WTF Fun Fact – MONOPOLY World Championship Grand Prize
At the 2009 and 2015 MONOPOLY World Championship, the grand prize was $20,580 USD, which is also the amount of money included in the latest version of MONOPOLY. –WTF Fun Facts
Source: 2015 World Championship | MONOPOLY Championship History Wiki | Fandom
WTF Fun Fact – Cranium & Starbucks
The independent board game “Cranium” originally sold over 100,000 copies of its game in the first year – primarily through 1500 Starbucks stores. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – $500k Wage On Rock, Paper, Scissors
In January 2011, two Canadians bet over $500,000 on a best-of-three game of rock, paper, scissors. The loser took out a mortgage on his home to pay the debt, but the courts ruled that the wager contract was invalid as the amount was excessive and cancelled the mortgage. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/500-k-bet-on-rock-paper-scissors-1.5543533
WTF Fun Fact – DirectXbox
The X in the name Xbox comes from the DirectX software used for processing graphics. The Xbox was code named DirectXbox, but this was shortened to Xbox for its commercial name. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: DirectX – Wikipedia
WTF Fun Fact – Konami’s Fake Game Designers
In 1986, all game designers working for Konami were forbidden to attach their real name to any project. Instead, they had to create a fake name to be listed in the game’s credits. This was to help keep rival companies from stealing their talent. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: 5 Things You Never Knew About Castlevania – DKOldies: Retro Game Store
WTF Fun Fact – Pigs Playing Video Games
A recent study involved training pigs to play video games with their snouts. The study also demonstrated that the pigs were able to “think abstractly and do fairly advanced conceptual learning.” – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – ToPikachu Kansas
For one day in August 1998 and another in October 2018, Topeka, Kansas, renamed itself “ToPikachu” to mark the release of different Pokémon games. – WTF un Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Passion/Orange/Guava POG
The mid-90s fad known as “Pogs” was actually an acronym for Passion/Orange/Guava, which was the type of juice that kids used the caps of when it was first invented in Hawaii. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Venom For $220
The concept of Marvel’s Venom was created by a Marvel Comics reader named Randy Schueller. In 1982, Marvel purchased the idea from him for $220.00. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Venom Was Originally Created By a Marvel Fan For A Shocking Sum (screencrush.com)
WTF Fun Fact – The Devil Went Down To Georgia
Charlie Daniels, who no longer owns the rights to his song, objected to the use of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in Guitar Hero III, because it was possible for the player to lose to devil-like character, which “perverted” his song. – WTF Fun Facts