Easter eggs might remind many of painted treats during festive seasons, but in the tech sector, they hold an entirely different meaning. These hidden features or secret messages are inserted into software or hardware by developers.
Over the years, various tech platforms have surprised users with some truly hilarious and strange Easter eggs, many of which have gone unnoticed for years before being discovered.
The first digital Easter egg began with a secret name in a 1979 game (Photo: Getty Images)
Below are 10 of the most imaginative Easter eggs found within the tech space.
1. The Earliest Discovery
In 1979, a game called Adventure launched on the Atari 2600 console and unknowingly introduced what became the first recognised Easter egg in a digital product.
During that period, companies preferred to keep developers anonymous, fearing that giving them public attention might take focus away from their brand.
Despite this, the developer of Adventure, Warren Robinett, came up with a clever tactic to leave his mark.
Initially, Robinett tried to get his name listed in the manual for the game, but when that didn’t happen, he took a different approach by embedding his name secretly inside the gameplay — an action that would lay the foundation for what we now call Easter eggs.
Players had to perform certain steps within the catacombs of the game to access a concealed room where his name would be revealed.
2. The Egg That Took the Longest to Discover
As time goes on, people continue to uncover secrets hidden decades earlier. Some games like Punch-Out!!, Duck Hunt, and Serious Sam have had hidden treats that remained unknown for up to two decades.
Among them, one Easter egg stayed buried for 26 years before being acknowledged. Interestingly, the programmer eventually gave up waiting for someone to find it and revealed its existence himself.
It’s found in the Atari version of Donkey Kong. Once Mario loses all his lives, players who observe carefully will notice the initials “LMD,” which belong to Landon M. Dyer, one of the developers.
3. The Strangest One Yet
An unusual hidden gem exists within Mozilla Firefox and Netscape browsers — a feature called the “Book of Mozilla.”
Typing “about:mozilla” into the browser produces a red screen displaying eerie quotes filled with doomsday references.
Although this so-called “book” isn’t real, the displayed verses draw from religious and mythical texts. There are seven such verses, and they mostly include messages about end times, mysterious beasts, and references to nonbelievers.
4. The Egg with the Most Steps
Among all Easter eggs ever made, Trials Evolution from 2012 arguably contains the one that demands the most effort.
This racing and puzzle game includes planks that display coded symbols. Piecing all of them together unlocks a puzzle, which leads to a hidden tune on the map called Nature Calls. But this only scratches the surface.
The melody, when analysed, reveals a Morse code message. That message points to a webpage where another challenge awaits.
Solving that puzzle gives out geographical coordinates for four cities: Bath, Helsinki, San Francisco, and Sydney. Each site reportedly contained sealed boxes, all of which included identical keys. Someone actually cracked this code in 2015.
According to the developer Antti Ilvessuo, the riddle won’t be finished until the year 2113, when a person in a hat and holding an umbrella will reportedly place another chest beneath the Eiffel Tower. One of those keys will be able to open it — though its contents remain unknown.
5. The Longest-Serving Easter Egg
When it comes to keeping things fresh and fun, Google has managed to remain unmatched through its hidden surprises.
Across its products — especially Search, Maps, and Earth — there are countless tiny features tucked away. Some are fun commands like “do a barrel roll,” which rotates the page, or word games built around terms like “anagram.”
Google Maps and Earth contain cheeky references to pop culture, including visual jokes like UFOs and comic book icons.
Among all its hidden tricks, one that stands out is the flight simulator available on Google Earth. By going through the menu to “Tools” and selecting “Enter Flight Simulator,” users can control a plane and fly it across virtual Earth.
6. The Egg That Everyone Knows
If you’re into gaming or programming, you’ve likely heard of the iconic Konami Code.
Originally used in Gradius by Konami, this button combination — up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A — became widely known after it was popularised in the game Contra. Entering it granted players 30 lives instead of the standard three.
Over time, developers at Konami added this trick into over a hundred of their games.
Even large platforms such as Facebook, Digg, and Google have paid tribute to the Konami Code. ESPN added it to their website in 2009, which led to a screen filled with unicorns and hearts when typed.
Websites like Buzzfeed and Google Stadia have also hidden this code on their homepages, and recent games such as Contra: Rogue Corps have brought it back again.
7. The One Nobody Saw Coming
Most users wouldn’t expect a file-sharing app like μTorrent to include a classic game, yet that’s exactly what happened.
Inside μTorrent’s settings menu, there’s an option that launches a simple version of Tetris. If downloads were taking too long, this little feature allowed users to pass time while waiting.
Accessing it requires opening the “About” menu and pressing “T” on your keyboard. The game would then appear on your screen, giving users something retro to enjoy.
8. The Most Imaginative One
Apple users with some command-line knowledge might be surprised to learn that their Mac contains a basic virtual therapist.
Sometimes it takes decades to uncover a hidden gem in the tech world (Photo: Alamy)
This quirky feature is embedded within the “emacs” program available through the Terminal app on macOS. By typing in certain commands, users can speak to a digital character named “doctor.”
Once triggered using “Shift + Esc + X” followed by typing “doctor” and pressing Return, the screen opens a dialogue where users can share their thoughts.
Though it’s clearly just a computer program, this creative addition is still an amusing way to spend time, even if it doesn’t replace genuine therapy.
9. The Most Unsettling Discovery
Back in 2019, people began noticing unusual messages inside the Oculus VR headset units developed by Facebook.
Media outlets soon caught on when thousands of controllers were shipped with unsettling phrases such as “Big Brother is Watching You” and “The Masons Were Here.”
Eventually, Facebook explained that these phrases were meant to appear only on prototypes and were never intended for the final consumer versions.
Though it was brushed off as a mistake, many users were understandably disturbed by the unexpected content. Facebook has since issued corrections and promised better oversight.
10. The Priciest Egg Ever Found
In the early days of cryptocurrency, someone stumbled upon a hidden message embedded in Bitcoin’s genesis block.
The phrase was encrypted in a hexadecimal format and reversed, reading: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
This line appeared to reference financial instability, possibly as a statement by Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, regarding the reasons for creating a decentralised currency.
For those interested in code-breaking, the blockchain is still full of similar surprises that await discovery.
Which of these Easter eggs impressed you the most? Have you come across any others that weren’t listed here? The tech space continues to be filled with imaginative minds, meaning plenty more surprises are still hidden out there.
