Video Games

Video Games

Arrow in the Knee

The Skyrim guard's line 'I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee' — the biggest gaming meme of the early 2010s.

Video Games

Easter Egg

A hidden joke, message, or surprise tucked inside a piece of software, film, or product.

Video Games

Final Boss

The hardest enemy at the end of the game — and, by metaphor, the ultimate adversary.

Video Games

FINISH HIM!

Mortal Kombat's command to perform a Fatality — a brutal finishing move on a defeated opponent — and the franchise's signal contribution to violent-game vocabulary.

Video Games

Fortnite

Epic Games' free-to-play battle-royale shooter — the dominant kid game of the late 2010s, infamous for emote dances and the apocalyptic in-game concerts.

Video Games

Grand Theft Auto

Rockstar's open-world crime franchise — the games that invented the modern 'do whatever you want in a satirical American city' template and were the canonical moral-panic target of the 2000s.

Video Games

Lara Croft

The British aristocrat-archaeologist protagonist of the Tomb Raider games — the first female action lead to anchor a major video-game franchise.

Video Games

Leeroy Jenkins

The viral 2005 World of Warcraft clip where one player, Leeroy Jenkins, charges screaming into a careful group plan and gets everyone killed.

Video Games

Level Up

To gain a discrete jump in skill, status, or capability.

Video Games

Mario

Nintendo's mustached Italian plumber — the mascot of video games as a medium and probably the most recognized fictional character of the last fifty years.

Video Games

Minecraft

The voxel-based open-world game where everything is made of one-meter cubes — the best-selling video game of all time and the dominant childhood game of the last decade.

Video Games

NPC

Originally a background character controlled by the game; now an insult for someone seen as predictable or unthinking.

Video Games

Pac-Man

The yellow circle that eats dots in a maze while fleeing four colored ghosts — the first video-game character to cross fully into mainstream pop culture.

Video Games

Pikachu

The electric yellow mouse of the Pokémon franchise — likely the most globally recognized fictional creature created since 1990.

Video Games

Press F to Pay Respects

The Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare quick-time-event prompt at a funeral — instantly mocked, then absorbed as the standard internet condolence gesture.

Video Games

Side Quest

A digression from your main objective — an interesting one, usually.

Video Games

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sega's blue, spiky, super-fast mascot — designed specifically as an attitude-laden answer to Mario in the 1990s console wars.

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Video Games

Sus

Short for 'suspicious' — the catchphrase of the Among Us pandemic gaming boom, briefly the most-used slang word among teenagers.

Video Games

Tetris

The Soviet-designed puzzle game where falling tetromino blocks must be arranged into complete rows — one of the most-played games ever made.

Video Games

The Cake Is a Lie

The Portal catchphrase scrawled on a hidden room's walls — and the canonical line for any promised reward that won't materialize.