The aliens speed up as they are cleared because the hardware could render fewer sprites faster. This technical limitation created the game's signature difficulty curve.

The original working title for Frogger was Highway Crossing Frog. It was the first arcade game to feature multiple background music tracks.

Pong was the first commercially successful arcade video game to simulate table tennis. The prototype famously malfunctioned when the coin box overflowed with quarters.

The name Pac-Man comes from paku-paku, the Japanese onomatopoeia for gobbling. It was changed from Puck Man in North America to prevent vandals from altering the P to an F.

Shigeru Miyamoto chose the name Donkey to suggest the ape was stubborn. The game also featured the debut of Mario, who was originally a carpenter named Jumpman.

Pong was the first commercially successful video game. Its prototype at Andy Capp's Tavern broke down because the coin box became jammed with too many quarters.

The game was originally titled Puck-Man in Japan. The name was changed for its North American release to prevent vandals from changing the P to an F on arcade cabinets.

Archaeological findings at Hisarlik in modern Turkey suggest the war may have been based on actual historical conflicts.

A messenger famously ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, inspiring the modern marathon race.

It ended the Golden Age of Athens and left all of Greece weakened and vulnerable to Macedonian conquest.