Look, stop thinking I’m just hitting the keyboard at random!
Back in the mists of time there was a text adventure, creatively named Advent (you could only have six-letter file names in those days). While the format may now be familiar to a lot of people, at the time the “go north, get key” type of game was revolutionary. There was even a part where you were given a magic word to teleport you to another part of the map
That word was xyzzy.
Some 40 years after the game’s initial release, this magic word is still a part of retro gaming and programming culture. I’ve used it for passwords, for debugging commands, even issued it as a network name.
I’m also part of a proud tradition. Many years ago I entered an Interactive Fiction (the modern name for text adventure games) completion and whilst I didn’t win anything (expected, it was a little rushed), the game would respond if you attempted to use the magic word.
Mists pour from the ground below you. They begin to spiral around your legs. In the distance you can make out shadowy figures coming towards you through the mist. You then hear a deep, booming voice say “Oh sorry, wrong game.” The mists vanish, and everything is back to normal.
So next time you find yourself in an old computer game, give xyzzy a try, see if there’s been underlying secrets in the game all this time.