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Top 10 Software Easter Eggs

lifehacker.com — Sure we like our chocolate bunny ears, but around these parts the best easter eggs aren't painted pink and stuffed with jelly beans —they're the undocumented and unexpected fun features hidden deep inside various software apps. While new software Easter eggs don't come around often, there's still a basket full of classics we love........

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  • SerratedX, on 03/24/2008, -11/+3These are a hell of a lot better than plastic eggs filled with peeps, but not better than a plastic egg filled with a 20!
  • kurupttek, on 03/24/2008, -0/+78I love tetris now even more
    • shamess, on 03/24/2008, -0/+18Finally something to do whilst waiting in those horrible few seconds before the download finishes!
    • R031E5, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1Along with the emacs' shrink (built in on Mac OS X), there are lots of games too. Go to terminal, write emacs, press return, then scape and then 'x', then just write the name of the game you want to play (e.g. Tetris, pong, solitaire, snake, etc.)
  • Kratos76, on 03/24/2008, -3/+57Wow, I've been playing tetris for 30 mins... where'd the time go! And my torrents are almost done!!
    • Coldbloodio, on 03/24/2008, -3/+0Torrents! whoopty ***** doo! Keep on keepin on!
  • jaba1337, on 03/24/2008, -0/+14http://eeggs.com/tree/153.html
    • HueytheFreeman, on 03/24/2008, -0/+8Does anyone remember this one? It seems really complicated, but it actually works.
      In word 97,
      1. Open a new document
      2. Type "Blue"
      3. Select word
      4. Go to Format -> Font
      5. Choose Font Style Bold, Color Blue
      6. Type " " (space) after word "Blue"
      7. Go to Help -> About
      8. Ctrl-Shift-Left click the Word icon/banner
      9. Use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit
  • grumpyrain, on 03/24/2008, -0/+57A good one if you are running Vista

    Click Start
    Type Fonts and press enter
    Right click and select Install New Font

    Brilliant
    • Noein, on 03/24/2008, -3/+10What am I suppose to see? Nothing strange happened when I tried on mine.
      • grumpyrain, on 03/24/2008, -0/+64The Add Font dialog that has not been updated since Windows 3.1, complete with retro drive and folder selector.
      • xhizzle, on 03/24/2008, -0/+10Works in XP too
        • specialK16, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Ha! So cool.
        • Sil369, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1XP - right click, it says View, no "Install New Font" (???)
        • Jayg28, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1On XP you have to select "Install new Font" from the file menu of the fonts window.
    • lovecss, on 03/24/2008, -2/+4Brilliant!
    • ryan926, on 03/24/2008, -17/+4wait. there are people that actually run Vista?
  • rootneg2, on 03/24/2008, -0/+10#apt-get moo

    #aptitude moo
    (or are there?....)
    • Lemming882, on 03/24/2008, -0/+5OK that was awesome. Never knew that one was around.
    • kazamx, on 03/24/2008, -0/+6aptitude - v moo
      aptitude - v -v moo
      aptitude - v -v -v moo
      aptitude - v -v -v -v moo
      aptitude - v -v -v -v -v moo

      do one line at a time
    • Dunhamzzz, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1sphinx?
  • pwnies, on 03/24/2008, -5/+4How do i rotate the blocks in the tetris game?
    • csgecko, on 03/24/2008, -1/+8Up and down arrows.
    • PL3NTY, on 03/24/2008, -4/+2My top score is 520
      • Duncster, on 03/24/2008, -6/+6Yeah.. mines 420. I could have kept going though, but 420 is such a great number.
  • GalacticRerun, on 03/24/2008, -7/+6Minesweeper cheating to impress my friends! And it's undetectable if they don't know!
    • bobdigi, on 03/24/2008, -1/+21Wow it must be a blast to hang around with you. Come on guys, lets play MINESWEEPER!
      • unreg, on 03/24/2008, -0/+9It was good times in the late 80's
      • GalacticRerun, on 03/24/2008, -0/+7We need something to do between orgies.
  • Yibbon, on 03/24/2008, -1/+6These are way better then the game easter eggs previously posted...
  • bakkouz, on 03/24/2008, -9/+2A Minesweeper cheat isn't an easter egg.
    plus it doesn't work on XP SP2.
    • elnerdo, on 03/24/2008, -3/+3I just did it. It works (AND I have a widescreen monitor!)
      • unreg, on 03/24/2008, -3/+2LCD or Plasma?
      • pyro789x, on 03/29/2008, -0/+1me too, I have extended desktop with two monitors, and it works fine for me. LCD. I did it in dvorak if that matters.
    • namelessXsilent, on 03/24/2008, -2/+4did not work for me either
    • schoate09, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I can't get it to work on Windows 98. Which version was it in?
    • woodman445, on 03/24/2008, -0/+4worked fine for me. It's in the top left of the monitor, not the minesweeper window. Very small, only a pixel.
  • terencec, on 03/24/2008, -14/+4is a windows BSOD considered an easter egg?
  • PeteBeast, on 03/24/2008, -10/+2Where do I type xyzzy in Minesweeper? :/
    • vashth3stampede, on 03/24/2008, -0/+4you just type it, there is nowhere specific to enter it.
      xyzzy shift+enter

      also, in addition to the top left pixel turning black when you hover your mouse over a mine, it turns white when you hover your mouse when the cell is clear
    • doctechnical, on 03/24/2008, -1/+3Right after you give the jeweled egg to the thief but DON'T turn the crank...
      Whoops. Wrong game. My bad.
  • woofers07, on 03/24/2008, -2/+5okay, the emac therapist is kinda creepin me out bit.
    • woodman445, on 03/24/2008, -1/+2Kept asking me "why this was so." Not a very good memory for a doctor!
  • ipek, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3Everybody loves tetris!
  • Appox, on 03/24/2008, -0/+4The spyhunter easter egg is my favorite.
    http://www.eeggs.com/items/8240.html
    • dsmx, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I I remember playing that for a while it's fairly good fun.
    • Sil369, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Doesn't work in Excel from Office 2003
  • Ganja420, on 03/24/2008, -1/+10Counter-Strike cs_mansion has a picture of a guy drinking windex
  • thinkart, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3what? no photoshop eggs? here's a link to a list of photoshop eggs http://www.eeggs.com/tree/469.html
  • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -0/+8What about he maze of death in M$ Excel 97
  • braja, on 03/24/2008, -2/+0Quark Xpress had a good one 8 or so years ago.
    http://www.eeggs.com/images/items/667.full.jpg
  • petebert, on 03/24/2008, -0/+11these are good easter eggs but didnt live up to the title of top 10.
  • dboy3587, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3I liked Pinball in MS word 97 thats better than the teddy bear one
  • sarixe, on 03/24/2008, -0/+30now we know why some of these programs are so damn huge...
  • Number23, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Egg Freckles
  • Thing2, on 03/24/2008, -1/+1Nice lil' treats. Someone should make an Easter Egg Wiki and just start building for all apps :) ......
    • unreg, on 03/24/2008, -0/+51. Start Wiki
      2. Date loonie Right Wing Bitch
      3. See clothes on eBay
    • dandonia, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1There is already a site that lists thousands. And im pretty sure users add to it
      • unreg, on 03/24/2008, -1/+2Yeah, but is it a Wiki. WIki's are the bomb.
      • specialK16, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Ok great!

        Now, what is the site again?
        • JudgeMonkey, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1http://www.eeggs.com/ site has been around for a loooonnnng time. Up there right along with snopes. No, it's not a wiki. You can submit stuff but it gets reviewed and added by the owners, old fashioned style.
  • daveisfera, on 03/24/2008, -2/+2How about the Open Office guys work on making it not take an eon to start up instead of making games?
    • unreg, on 03/24/2008, -1/+5You mean functionality over fun?
    • XxbladesfirexX, on 03/24/2008, -0/+4Because the world is not your bitch.
  • picpak, on 03/24/2008, -2/+2#4 would be impossible on a black wallpaper.
    • JudgeMonkey, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1Not really, because the square is white otherwise. So when the square disapears, that means it's black.
  • gregnorc, on 03/24/2008, -4/+33Haha, not only is uTorrent tiny as hell but has a fuly functioning tetris game inside? That's damn good programming.
    • maisteri, on 03/24/2008, -0/+7Hah... if you want to see good programming, check .kkrieger
    • BlueSkyfish, on 03/25/2008, -1/+4A simple Tetris game like that only takes up a few kilobytes.
  • Chahrlie5, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Flight sim has helped me pass much time at work
  • griz, on 03/24/2008, -1/+1TIC-TAC-TOE in OpenOffice FTW!
  • kontact, on 03/24/2008, -0/+8hey, it was me who asked for tetris in utorrent as a joke on the ridiculous things people were asking for in utorrent
    here's the link! I am asdfsauce.
    http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=6807
  • Sornos, on 03/24/2008, -2/+3In Windows Pinball game type "test hack" without the quotations. Now you should have control over the ball with your mouse.
  • doctechnical, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1Warren Robinett says "Newbs."
  • ghgh1313, on 03/24/2008, -1/+2on windows, search for FLOURISH.MID
    this is the hottest track you'll ever hear
  • nsanidy, on 03/24/2008, -5/+2Anyone else find this pretty lame?
  • DeFex, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3I like the one where you can cheat in microsoft pinball and drag the ball anywhere you like with the mouse.
    type "hidden test"
  • jcani, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3uTorrent and Tetris? WIN
  • MrSkyGuy, on 03/24/2008, -4/+4Conversation with my iMac shrink:


    Why do you hate myslef?

    You mean yourself?

    Is it because of problems at school that you say I mean myself?

    I don't go to school

    Tell me about your school.

    I DONT GO TO SCHOOL YOU CELEBUTARD SHRINK!

    Perhaps you could watch your tongue!

    We're done.
  • kinneys, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1More on that XP PINBALL EASTER EGG...... Load up the game and type the words hidden test. Looks pretty normal? Well, as your ball is flyin’ ’round, click on the pinball machine. Drag your mouse around. The ball follows your every command - blatantly ignoring the laws of gravity we have come to expect it to follow!

    There’s more too. The “hidden test” mode has a bunch of functions put in there to help the developers out during the game’s creation. Here’s ones I found, or can see in the code: h: Shows the high-score table, with an entry of 1,000,000,000 for you to put your name next to. m: Shows the amount of system memory r: Increases your “rank” in the game y: Shows the game frame rate in the title These ones I can see are trapped in the code, but I can’t see what they do: b, F11, F12, F15 (how do you do that? Key code 0x7E)

    from...http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:KPW_xvkPJx8J: ...
  • jasongb, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I would also like to thank the IE technical team for helping waste 25 minutes of my workday.

    I like their funny messages though. I was just about to click out and it goes, "WAIT, don't click out.. funny stuff to come" then it just pumps more names at you.
  • planes, on 03/24/2008, -1/+11Hey, we have one on our aviation website at http://www.global-air.com . But, I've got to warn you, it is definitely NSFW. Go to the very bottom of the homepage and click on the copyright (c) symbol. Funny, but not for work. You've been warned ...
  • lolben, on 03/24/2008, -0/+0#7 is all the rage in Afghanistan i hear

  • nomadxx7, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I wonder if developers put these in to have other people find or if they put the games into things like the calculator so when their bosses were away they could do what all of us really want to do at work.... slack off
  • PhoenixReborn, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I remember some add on that re enabled the kitchen sink page. Supposedly someone submitted a bug report that said Firefox didn't contain a kitchen sink so the devs put that ascii page in.
  • HydrogenOxide, on 03/24/2008, -2/+1...
  • drunkentequila, on 03/24/2008, -1/+1i still think the best one is typing
    telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
    into any command line interface.
  • russy, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1The old classic Quarxpress aliens arent even listed! :(
  • noerenic, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1http://vrih.co.cc Congratulations mate for this good written article
  •  

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