Hidden games in Mac OS X

by Kevin Kelly { Dec 28th 2006 at 11:28AM }

Mac OS X uses emacs as a text editor, which contains a number of hidden games including Snake, Tetris, Pong and a whole slew of others. Follow the simple steps included here, and you could be playing a boatload of games that you didn't even know were on your Mac. Granted, the games pretty much suck (the graphics make the Wii look like Super High Definition 2160iii), but if you're trying to kill 30 minutes while sitting in the library, look no further.

We're still exploring these and trying to figure out what the heck some of the games are.

Tags: apple, easter eggs, emacs, game, hidden, mac, pong, snake, solitaire, tetris

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Wake Up People @ Dec 28th 2006 11:40AM

OMG this is so old and these games are not HIDDEN! They are in the freaking documentation for emacs for crying out loud:

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/manuals/emacs/emacs-21.4a/emacs_473.html

Greg2k @ Dec 28th 2006 11:53AM

THAN YOU

Stephen @ Dec 28th 2006 11:54AM

1: Grow up. You don't have to be rude. 99% of the computer-using population has probably never heard of emacs to begin with, so this is 'new to them', and thus worthy of comment.

kiwi @ Dec 28th 2006 11:54AM

The bigger question is, what's up with the recommendations after the video? Pub @ Taiwan? Super erotic belly dancer?

nick @ Dec 28th 2006 12:04PM

Yeah, what's with the "related" videos after the game one?

Steven @ Dec 28th 2006 12:19PM

"Mac OS X uses emacs as a text editor..."

Um, no it doesn't. It's text editor is Text Edit.
emacs is inside the Terminal.

Unimental @ Dec 28th 2006 12:29PM

Reminds me of the "hidden" snake game on the Sega Master System which could be played by powering on the console without a cartridge in the slot.

Dang, I hadn't thought of the old SMS for years. Thanks, Stiq!

PhantomVI @ Dec 28th 2006 12:36PM

Neat. I knew about Tetris, but not the others. I'll have to give 'em a shot.

Carlos @ Dec 28th 2006 12:40PM

Those are not hidden nor MAC OS exclusives, I use Linux and I can see the "games" subsection at the bottom of the "Tools" menu :)

rockintom99 @ Dec 28th 2006 12:50PM

So... they suck because they don't have good graphics? I thought you guys were Nintendo fanboys.

Erwos @ Dec 28th 2006 12:57PM

This is absolutely pathetic on a few levels.

1. These hidden games are described in the documentation. They're not even hard to find.

2. emacs has had these games for a time period of roughly _FOREVER_.

3. emacs is on every major OS. This has jack-all to do with MacOS X.

Adam @ Dec 28th 2006 1:13PM

These games are not hidden. They are typically installed on most unix-like machines.

Also, your little "Wii" stab was pretty lame. I'll avoid getting into a conversation better left to forum kiddies about how the Wii is incredible though.

Kevin @ Dec 28th 2006 1:16PM

Erwos, when you're done wiping yourself with your smug rag, consider the fact that the vast majority of Mas OS X users did not know their systems contained these games. Additonally, the Macs do not come with any emacs documentation. Try getting over yourself just a tad.

And #6, the Mac OS X uses emacs. Sure you have to get to it from within the Terminal, but hey, it's still there.

Norm @ Dec 28th 2006 1:18PM

Just when you think you are a good nerd, some super nerd has to come in and out nerd you in your own blog.

I've seen these games before, but its cool to see that video.

luigi193 @ Dec 28th 2006 4:19PM

Type in Doctor!!! Its so awesome! Its like a dumbed down version of An AIM bot, but its still cool! Knew about this long ago, But who uses Emacs? Who uses Terminal! Not many people... But still kool none the less. Easter eggs.com has alot of other cool crap also!

Maelonna @ Dec 28th 2006 4:42PM

I dunno about killing 30 minutes at the library, but the Belly Dancer killed 6 minutes and 4 seconds of my time!

Danny Yoo @ Dec 28th 2006 8:20PM

#13: the issue is that most people who use the Terminal already have Unix experience, and for that audience, emacs and its embedded games are not new. The Terminal isn't catered toward novices, and so encouraging folks to use it should come with some caveats.

About your comment about non-existent documentation: there is full emacs documentation available through the 'man' and 'info' Unix commands. Concretely:

$ info emacs

shows complete manuals for Emacs. Press '?' for help on the info page. When the manual page mentions something like "C-x C-c", please interpret this as the keystrokes "Control-x" followed by "Control-c".

Still, I don't think it's advisable to encourage people to use the Terminal without some knowledge or supervision, because unlike the normal Mac interface, it is aimed to be efficient, not user friendly.