Easter Egg

What Does Easter Egg Mean?

An Easter egg is a hidden video game feature or surprise. Easter eggs are usually unlocked by using certain techniques to complete in-game tasks, entering specific button combinations or acquiring access to secret game or game file areas.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Easter Egg

Game developers often add Easter eggs with game producer consent. Unauthorized Easter eggs added without game producer knowledge or consent can lead to game recall, or the game may be re-rated to reflect hidden content.

Unauthorized content aside, most Easter eggs are harmless and enhance game player interest. One of the most common Easter eggs allows gamers to play as hidden characters. Many of these Easter egg types were included in the U.S. National Basketball Association's (NBA) "Jam" series, and were enjoyed by avid gamers and developers alike.

The first Easter egg was supposedly found in Atari's "Adventure" video game, released in 1978.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Latest Buzzwords and Jargon Terms

Related Reading

Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…