Watching a hard drive do its thing was one of the most zen-like, hypnotic, and soothing things you could do in the 90s. Oddly satisfying and deeply relaxing.

Two things that any Sim City player would have tried. The classic: Hold Shift and type FUND to receive $10,000. Using it repeatedly can trigger an earthquake, so it’s often best to use it before building much or while the map is mostly empty. I learned that the hard way... Tax exploit: Keep taxes at 0% most of the year. Just before tax collection, raise them to 20% (or higher), collect the money, then drop them back to 0%. Citizens stay happier as if taxes stayed low. Sim City residents apparetly have a very short memory. Any other tricks that you remember?

Duck Hunt for the NES from 1984 felt like magic. The actual technology behind it - though not magic - was pretty smart and relied more on how the human eye works (or in this case: doesn't work). The NES Zapper is a simple light gun that contains a photodiode (a light sensor) and a trigger button, it doesn’t actually shoot anything itself. When you pull the trigger in Duck Hunt, the game briefly turns the entire screen black for one frame, then immediately shows a white box exactly where each duck or other target is. The Zapper’s sensor checks whether it sees that sudden bright light, and if it does, the game counts a hit, and if not, it’s a miss. The reason why you don't see this? It simply happens too fast (a fraction of a second), so you barely notice the flash, especially not in the heat of the moment. This only works properly on old CRT TVs because of how they draw the image. Illusion perfected!