The 101 Coolest Easter Eggs Hidden in Your Software, DVDs and Video Games

 

Software and Hardware:

If you think that these applications, hardware devices and hardware add-ons serve one function, think again.

1. Photoshop CS2: Merlin Li ... : Hold down both the Alt key and the left mouse button, then move your mouse over Palate Options in the Layers window. Let go of the mouse, and Merlin appears.
2. Gnome: Wanda a Fish: Go to the Run dialog in Gnome and type "free the fish.” Click the Run button and a fish called Wanda should pop up and wander around the desktop.
3. Skype: A Few Hidden Emoticons in Skype: Enter a chat session and type words like “drunk” and “ninja” with the brackets to view amusing emoticons.
4. uTorrent: Tetris in uTorrent: Select About in the Help menu and press "T" on the keyboard.
5. Microsoft Paint: Hidden Drawing Tool Options: Use the Ctrl key to stamp, scuff and use brush pressure, as well as to draw straight or diagonal lines with the pencil.
6. Bloodshed Dev-C++: Fish: Click About Dev-C++ in the Help menu, then click and drag the Really Flash Dev-C++ logo onto the authors button. A fish should appear, and if you click it, it will change direction.
7. OpenOffice.org: Star Wars Game: Create a new spreadsheet in the OpenOffice.org Calc. Type "=game()" intoa cell and validate it by pressing Enter. The cell will display, "Say what?" to which your typing finger will reply “=GAME("StarWars")." A new window will open with a little game called Star Wars.
8. Spybot — Search and Destroy: Game Hidden: Click the little icon that appears in every window you open by selecting an option on the left-hand panel. You will get access to a game where you have to fill in as may squares as possible.
9. Cool Edit Pro: Game in Cool Edit Pro 2.1: Go to Help, then click About CoolEdit Pro. Click over the two silver balls to have some fun.
10. Winamp: Spinning Fish: Bring up the Preferences box and go to Plug-ins > Input. Click the Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder, then click About. Click the fish to make it spin.
11. AutoCAD: AutoCAD 2005 Development Team: In AutoCAD 2005, open the Layer Properties Manager dialog box. Hold down Shift+Ctrl and select the Invert Filter button to see the egg.
12. Firefox: Firefox's Revenge for IE5's Joke: Type "about:Mozilla" in the URL bar to read a reply to the Internet Explorer 5 team's joke about Mozilla crashing computers.
13. KPT Vector Effects Plug-in: KPT Arachnoid: Draw a shape and choose KPT Vector effects/3D Transform from the Filters menu. Once the menu opens, hold down Ctrl+Option+Command, then click the blue-and-red logo in the upper-left corner of the interface to play Arachnoid-style game.
14. SureDocs: Aladillo: Go to Help > About and press Ctrl+Shift. Double-click the wordl "mode" in "a la mode" under the word “SureDocs” to crack this egg.
15. Flash (Macromedia version): Flash MX Pro 2004: Go to Help > About Flash Professional. Click the small “™” near the number 2004 and the About screen will offer six different games.
16. FlashFXP: Nibbles: Open FlashFXP, select Help, then choose About. Double-click the FlashFXP logo, and a version of the game Snake — called Nibbles — will slither to you.
17. ICQ: ICQ Devils: Click the Main button and select Preferences and Security. Go to Status Mode, hit the Tab key and put the mouse cursor in the middle of the empty space. Press Ctrl+Shift while clicking the left and right mouse buttons together, hitting the left button first. You should see the ICQ Devils, the creators of the ICQ products.
18. Image Ready 7.0: Ducks: Click Help > About. You should see a picture of a globe in water. Hold down the Ctrl key, and the mouse cursor will turn into a stamp tool-icon. While still holding Ctrl, click somewhere on the image of the globe and a small yellow duck will appear. Do this 10 times and hold down Ctrl+Alt to bring up a miniscope to shoot the ducks.
19. SMS (Microsoft version): Picture of All Team Members: Run “admin console” (MMC) with the “/SMS:EE=238” switch, then right-click the root node and click Credits. Pictures of all team members and their names will appear.
20. iPod: Breakout Game: Select About from the main menu, then hold the center button for a couple of seconds. A miniature Breakout game, created by the founders of Apple Inc. when they worked for Atari, appears on the screen.
21. HP 100LX: Hidden Limerick: Turn Palmtop off and press and hold the key. Turn it back on and release the key. Scroll down to Display and press 14 times to see a limerick.
22. GameCube: Different Jingle: Plug in four controllers, hold down all four “Z” buttons and turn on the GameCube. A different jingle will play when the logo appears.
23. IRIX: Hidden Recipes in Release Notes: Open a shell and type “relnotes dmedia_eoe 29.” You’ll recieve recipes for Kung Pao chicken and tiramisu.
24. Commodore PET: Microsoft Joke: In PET Microsoft Basic, type the command “WAIT 6502.” The screen will fill with the text "MICROSOFT."
25. Linux: Printer on Fire!: Print from the network and force a printer jam. Issue a print command and watch the output of the console read, “lp0 printer on fire!”
26. Palm OS: Easter Egg and Taxi: Go to General > Preferences and draw a small circle, counterclockwise, on the screen right above the calculator silk-screen button.
27. Atari Portfolio OS: Creators Names and Credits: Open the text editor, then open the Help area using the F2 button. Open the help file for the keyboard, then press ALT+[. You’ll see a few names and credits for the system.
28. Windows CE: The Perfect Hand in Solitaire: Press Ctrl+Shift, then tap Dea” at the top of the software keyboard. You'll get a perfect solitaire hand.
29. Mac OS X: The Lord of the Rings: In the Applications folder, open the Utilities folder. Open the terminal and paste type “grep LOTR /usr/share/calendar/calendar.history” to enjoy some laughs with The Lord of the Rings.
30. Debian GNU/Linux: Got Apt-Get?: Log in to a shell as root, type "apt-get moo" and press Enter. An ASCII-based drawing of a cow saying, "Have you mooed today?" will appear. If you type "apt-get," a help file with the various switches appears. At the very end, it says, "This APT has Super Cow Powers".
31. BeOS: Change Your Windows Decor: Hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift and clic the Be button on the desk bar. A previously hidden menu item called Window Décor will appear, giving you options for changing the look of windows.
32. Kyte Aura: Frappilino!: Go to the desktop and click the Kyte menu button. Continue to Computing Properties > Help > Credit and watch until Lead Designer: Frappilino07 pops up. Click that name, and you’ll see a 3D- rendered spinning cup with the words, "It’s a Frappilino NOT a Frappacino" inscribed on it.
33. NEXTSTEP: Jack-in-the-Box: Run Configure, call up the Info panel, and hit Command and Alt+click on the application icon to get your yolk.

DVDs:

There’s more to these movies than meets the eye.

34. "Toy Story 2": Binford Tools: When Buzz and Woody get taken back to Sid’s house for certain death, the toolbox that holds all of Sid’s tools has the name Binford Tools stamped on it. This is a reference to Tim Allen, who does the voice of Buzz, and his TV show "Home Improvement," which was sponsored by Binford Tools.
35. "Shrek": That'll Do Donkey: A donkey is just as good as a pig in this reference to the movie "Babe." During the part when donkey goes through the bridge, Shrek walks up to donkey and says, “That’ll do Donkey, that’ll do.” The farmer at the end of "Babe" says the same thing.
36. "2010": Using the Zero-Gravity Toilet: In the movie "2010," the movie crew and director honored the first movie by creating references to using a zero-gravity toilet. All the technical-looking writing on the wall in "2010" that looks is actually the same instructions for using a zero-gravity toilet. If you watch the movie, you will see them everywhere.
37. "Nacho Libre": Legend of Francois: Check out the deleted scenes. Click the Left button, and an eagle will appear on Nacho Libre's chest. This will open a special behind-the- scenes story.
38. "Fight Club": Hidden Message at Start: Look at the Attention warning followed by the signature FBI warning to read a special message from the main character of the movie.
39. "The Ring": Deadly Tape: If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the main menu screen, the cursor will disappear. Hit Select, and it will start showing the infamous videotape from beginning to end, uncut.
40. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": "Ed Wood" Reference: When Wonka and the others are in the elevator touring rooms, they pass a room with a bunch of pink sheep. Wonka says "I don't want to talk about it." The statement is a reference to "Ed Wood," another Tim Burton film in which Johnny Depp starred as a cross-dresser with a penchant for pink angora — material made from sheep — sweaters.
41. "Eyes Wide Shut": Masked Ball Song — What's Behind?: During the opening of the masked ball, an odd, indecipherable song called "Masked Ball," by Jocelyn Pook, plays. Play the piece in reverse, and you’ll hear an Eastern European prayer song.
42. "Shaun of the Dead": "A Clockwork Orange Tribute: The choreographed pool-cue beating of the zombie in the Winchester is an homage to the assault on the homeless man in "A Clockwork Orange."
43. "The Little Mermaid": Nasty Cover: This well-known egg regards the insertion of male anatomy on the movie's cover.
44. "X-Men": David Hayter: David Hayter, who wrote the film's screenplay, appears toward the end as a police officer who gets killed by one of Magneto's goons.
45. "Three Amigos": Reference to Previous Incarnation: This egg is yet another reference to Steve Martin’s character in "The Man with Two Brains." Each amigo must say a chant to summon the invisible swordsman. At the end of Steve Martin's chant, he shouts, "Hfuhruhurr", the name of his character in the other movie
46. "Blow": The "Real" Kristina Jung Is in the Movie: George Jung's real daughter, Kristina, is in the movie as a bank clerk.
47. "RoboCop": Ed Solomon: A series of hexadecimal numbers appear at the bottom of the screen when the film is first turned on. If you convert the numbers into ASCII, they spell “Ed Solomon," one of the film’s producers.
48. "Godzilla": Armin Tamzarian the Taxi Driver: In the scene where Matthew Broderick is being chased by Godzilla in a taxi, he throws a taxi-driver identification plate out of the cab to alert the big Army guy. The name of the taxi driver is Armin Tamzarian, which is Principal Skinner's real name in "The Simpsons."
49. "The Outsiders": S.E. Hinton Appearance: The precocious teenage author who penned the book that spawned the film actually appears in the movie as the nurse that tells Johnny that his mother is there to see him.
50. "Monty Python's Life of Brian": A Beatle!: As Brian is being pushed through the crowd of his new believers, he is introduced to George Harrison from the Beatles, who mutters a quick “hello.”
51. "Back to the Future": Clock Tower: When the camera sweeps past the clocks in the opening credits, one of them is a model of the Hill Valley clock tower and includes a Christopher Lloyd action figure hanging from the minute hand.
52. "The Silence of the Lambs": Cover Art: If you look closely at the picture of the death's-head moth on the cover of the movie box, the skull is actually made up of naked women that represent the killer's victims.
53. "Three Men and a Baby": A Ghost and Rifle: When Ted Danson’s character’s mother picks up the baby in the bedroom, a figure of a boy, and in the next frame, a rifle, can be seen in the window.
54. "Cadence": It's a Family Thing: The military policeman manning the reception desk to the psychiatric ward has the name "Estevez" on his uniform, a nod to Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen’s son and Charlie Sheen’s brother. (Both Sheens are in the film, while Estevez is not.)
    
55. "Adaptation": Adaptation Answering Machine: Highlight Play on the main menu, hit the Up button and a red telephone will appear. Click the red phone and a separate screen will pop up that reads "Adaptation Answering Machine,” followed by a phone number. Call the phone number and leave a message with your opinion of the movie.
56. "Freaky Friday": Hidden Jamie Lee Guitar Solo: On the DVD's main menu, go to Bonus Material, then to Freaky Music Videos. Highlight the first Option button and press left on your remote control. Two blue guitars will appear on either side of the picture of Jamie Lee Curtis’ head. Select to watch a short video of the actress playing guitar, which was cut from a scene in the movie.
57. "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy": Extra Animated Sequence: Visit the Outer Planets menu on the second DVD and turn on the Subtitles option. Then, go to the Inner Planets option and press left. The words “Don't Panic!" will appear on the screen. Press Enter to see an animated sequence that appeared on the screen of the Heart of Gold in Episode Three.
58. "Insomnia": Avalanche: This Al Pacino thriller makes it snow if you choose Production Diaries from the Special Features menu. Scroll down and highlight Features at the bottom of the screen, hit the left arrow button and choose Enter. You will then see footage of an actual avalanche that occurred during filming.
59. "Jerry Maguire": Hangover: Go to the section for video commentary and spell out “Maguire” using the cursor on the keyboard in the background. The keys will light up, and you’ll see a special feature of the three main actors preparing for audio commentary.
60. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring": MTV Parody: Go to Select A Scene and scroll to the last scene. Press down once, and you should see a little ring next to New Scene. Select it, and you’ll have the Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar Lord of the Rings parody performed at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards.
61. "Mallrats": How Dare You!: Highlight the toy robot's eyes and press Play in the menu. Director Kevin Smith will appear and start yelling at you for trying to find an Easter egg on the disc.
62. "Ocean's Eleven": Sands Implosion: Go to Special Features and click the map of Las Vegas. There will be a list of different casinos. Select the Sands and watch the segment. Then click it again to watch a clip of its 1996 implosion.
63. "Predator": Don't Drink the Water! Go the photo gallery on the second disc and scroll to the 16th photo of Hawkins with his glasses on his head. Highlight the predator-targeting triangle on the right-hand side of the screen and click it to view a hidden documentary about the cast getting sick after drinking water in Mexico.
64. "Reservoir Dogs": Hidden Tarantino Interview: In Special Features, hit left so that the option is over the policeman's ear. Click the bloody ear that appears. A menu appears saying that you have found the Hidden Features, where you can view a Tarantino interview.
65. "10 Things I Hate About You": Detention Sign-In: Watch the detention sign-in board at the start of the Heath Ledger detention scene. The third name from the bottom of the board is Ross Fanger, whose name appears in the credits as unit production manager.
66. "Spiderman": Spiderman CGI Bloopers and Gag Reel: On the first disc, click Commentaries. Click the picture of actor James Franco on the left-hand side of the screen, and a new screen appears with bloopers. You’ll see real parts of the film but with video-game characters and other funny additions.
67. "The Karate Kid": Hidden Survivor Video: Insert the disc, go to Scene Selection, press up twice until the first scene is highlighted, press once to the right to light up scene two, then press up. A pair of chopsticks will light up to the right. Press Select.
68. "Thirteen": Thirteen Easter Eggs: Visit the Making Of menu item and hit right on your remote control to access a hidden menu item labeled 13. Click it to see a racy deleted scene from the movie.
69. "Unbreakable": Hidden "The Sixth Sense" Trailer: Watch the credits for Comic Books And Super Heroes on the second disc. Press Angle Change to watch the trailer for director M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Sixth Sense."
70. "Vanilla Sky": Outtakes and Screwups: Select the Photo Galleries tab on the Special Features menu and select Special Features. Press the right button to illuminate the mask on the right-hand side of screen. Then, press Enter to enjoy the outtakes.

Video Games:

What you see is not what you get in these games.

71. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas": Trash Maps: Travel to Angel Pine in the Badlands to crack open this egg. Across the street from the Clucken Bell stands three trash cans, two of which have their lids off. Knock either one of those two cans over and peek inside with a weapon that zooms, like a sniper rifle. Several maps of Vice City will appear before your eyes.
72. "Guitar Hero 3": Judy Nails — Judy Is a Punk: Judy Nails is a character in this game. Her attire shows that she’s a punk, but did you know that This is a reference to the popular song by The Ramones called "Judy Is a Punk"?
73. "Halo 3": Da Vinci Structure: You’ll find this egg on the Covenant level. Float to the ledge near the invisible barrier, then walk up it. Jump off the edge of the cliff, and the sky will turn orange. You will then be at the part where you have to fight the two scarabs, except that there won’t be any. You should be just outside of the map. Continue on until a mysterious structure appears. Look at the back of it, and you’lI see that it’s covered in blue letters on a grid-like, multicolored background.
74. "Frontlines: Fuel of War": Tanks: In the level where you first get to drive the tanks, you hear a marine yell, "We can pick up chicks in it." In "Red Vss Blue," a machinima based on Halo, Tucker comments about picking up chicks in a tank.
75. "Fatal Frame 3": The Tormented "Flowers for Algernon" Reference: When the dream starts during the first night playing as Miku, the Tattoo Priestess appears behind you and says: "I don't want to see, anymore." This is a reference to a poem from the book, "Flowers for Algernon," which is about a mentally challenged janitor who volunteers to take part in an experimental intelligence-enhancing treatment.
76. "Quake 4": Quake 2 Starting Location: In the first mission, the first rooms you enter show a human launch pod that looks like the one in the beginning of Quake 2.
77. "World of Warcraft": List of Pop-Culture References: There are tons of video-game and pop-culture references in World of Warcraft. They range from Donkey Kong to "Austin Powers: to ThunderCats. In the Eastern Plaguelands, for instance, an NPC by the name of Tirion Fordring gets out his hammer and says, "Say hello to my little friend,” a quote from 1983 film "Scarface."
78. "Powerslide": Picture of Two Powerslide Creators: You’ll get a glimpse of the game’s creators by selecting Mineshafted track, Skeeto car and Crayz. Play the race until you get to the radioactive toxic-waste dump. Take a turn and go to in, making your way around the boxes that display radiation signals until you get to a crack in the wall. Drive through the crack, and you will see two almost fully green men with their mouths open.
79. "Sim City 4": Tax Twenty Trick: A little dirty government work will help you out in this egg. Load any incorporated city with a reasonable population, raise all the taxes to 20, and leave them at that for a game year or two. Then, drop all taxes to zero. As a result, your city should thrive for a while.
80. "Ratchet and Clank": Hidden Feature: On Blackwater City, go to the alien girl that lets you go to the Hoverboard race. Keep doing backflips and front flips, and a part of her anatomy will grow bigger.
81. "Chuzzle Deluxe": Sneezing Chuzzle: Keep clicking on a Chuzzle of your choice to make it laugh. If you keep clicking, it will sneeze, and if you click long enough, it will sneeze so hard that all its fur falls off and grows back. Do the same thing to a big Chuzzle, and instead of sneezing, it'll belch.
82. "3D Pinball for Windows": Control the Pinball with Your Mouse: When game starts, type in "hidden test" without the quotes. Letters show various things: “H” shows the high-score table, with an entry of 1 billion for you to put your name next to; “M” shows the amount of system memory; ”R” increases your rank in the game; and “Y” shows the game frame rate in the title. You can also click and drag the ball around, and if you manage to keep the ball in the hyperspace bonus, you can score major points.
83. "Pokémon Emerald Version": Pokémon Cloning Glitch: Go talk to the LINK MULTI BATTLE ROOM lady and select two Pokémon. The woman will now say "Before entering BATTLE ROOM, your progress must be saved. Is that OK?". Say yes. Now you will notice a small time gap. Your Pokémon has been cloned successfully!
84. "Morrowind": M'Aiq the Liar: M'Aiq the Liar may seem evasive, but try talking to him once more after your initial introduction, and he’ll reveal secrets such as how to become a lich, where to find dragons and where to find nude characters or liches — unless, of course, he’s lying.
85. "Mechwarrior 2": Enzo: Choose Trails of Grievance in the opening screen and go to the Star Formation Edit screen. Change your name to Enzo, then go back and choose the "mech" that you want to use. In addition to the normal choices, you will also be able to use the Elemental, Tarantula and BattleMaster.
86. "Super DX Ball Deluxe": Super DX Ball Egg: Double-click the ball rolling around at the start of the game, and you will unlock the classic DX Ball boards. Then, go to Power-Ups and search where it says Mega Mall. Double- click the image, and you will unlock the Mega Ball Boards.
87. "Doom 3": Hunter Magazines: Every so often during Doom 3, you will see magazines. On some of these magazines is a picture of a character from Quake III Arena.
88. "Halo 2": Bloody Dog Head: To find this egg, go to the multiplayer map Zanzibar. Go to the beach and look at the signs on the edge of the water, which should say "No Swimming." Then, turn off your Xbox, take out Halo 2 and change your clock where everything is 7. Restart the game and go to Zanzibar. Look at the "No Swimming" sign, and there will be a missing picture with a bloody dog's head on it. It says "Are you finding Ling Ling's head?"
89. "The Sims 2": Boolprop, the Ultimate Cheat: Type Ctrl+Shift+C, then type "boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true" in the box that comes up and you’ll be able to do lots of interesting things.
90. "Max Payne 2": "Late Goodbye" References: Here the song "Late Goodbye" in Part 1, Chapter 4. Track down Ed the janitor for a certain pass code, and hang around to hear him sing along to the music in his headphones. In Part 1, Chapter 7, you come across bands of killers masquerading as cleaners in the high-rise apartment building. In the fourth apartment you enter, descend the stairs to the first level. As you descend the stairs, one of the cleaners starts to bang away on the piano to the song. In the same part of the game at Mona's Place in the Fun House, she is in the shower singing "Late Goodbye.”
91. "Cossacks: European Wars": Hidden Map Maker: At the main menu of Cossacks-European Wars, hold down the Ctrl button and press Intro. A small box that says "Loading" will appear in the middle of the screen, and then a map creator will load. But the map creator is in Russian, so you’ll need to go to an online translator to decode it.
92. "Icewind Dale II": Lowtax Reference: In the graveyard area, the gravestone on the far left reads: "Kyanka. Writer of Humorous Stories. d. 1302." This is an illusion to Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka, the man behind the humor site Something Awful.
93. "Aladdin": Hidden Mickey: On level two of this downloable game, go past the snake to a clothesline. You'll se a pair of shorts and a blanket, with Mickey Mouse between them.
94. "Red Alert": Cryptic Messages Hidden by Psx Manual Designers: Open up the case, extract the manual and look at the dot-dash code at the bottom of most of the pages. This is Morse code, which may have to do with the alternate game play based around the ants missions in some versions.
95. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles": Pumpkin Head: Change your computers date to Oct. 31 before entering the game. Then, enter a new single-player game in Story mode and choose a character to play as (Leo, Ralph, Mike or Don). Start the game, and your character's head will now be a giant jack-o'-lantern. This also works when setting the date to Dec. 25, except the head wears a Santa hat.
96. "Tomb Raider": Hidden Sound Bites: Use a PlayStation CD player to access songs from the game. Go to tracks 99 through 130, and there will be some seriously silly sound bytes from the game’s creators.
97. "Ducks": Hidden Photo: Type "ASKYAFFLE" on the main menu to turn on the level-skip key. In level 29, blow up the underside of the overhanging earth on the right of the level. Walk the green ducky under to the right, and he should go through a door that was previously hidden in the earth, revealing a quote and a photo of some people from the credits.
98. "Marathon": Credits: The last level includes a place with three teleporters. Stand, but step into, one of them and push the Action key. The back side of the teleporter will open, leading you to the "secret Bungie terminal."
99. "Prince of Persia": Fun Stuff for Prince of Persia: If you type "prince megahit" at the start of the game, you can change features like filtering out nonanimated objects and increasing or decreasing your time.
100. "Snood": Happy New Year!: Set the clock on your computer to Jan. 2, 2002. This will "register" the game, and you can use the aimer, mulligans and, best of all, play unlimited games. When the clock strikes midnight, you’re back to the trial version.
101. "Dark Castle": Interesting Treat in Main Hall: Go to the Date And Time function under the control panel, and set the date to any Friday the 13th. When you start up the game, you’ll see the added effect in the main hall.