Guess the video game by emoji

Same idea as the movie pack, aimed at a controller instead of a screen. Twenty games, each boiled down to three or four characters and nothing else β€” no box art, no franchise logos, no cheating. The first five are gimmes to get you warmed up. By the back half I stopped being nice. Tap any riddle to flip it over; the answer comes with one line of commentary, because a bare title felt like a wasted opportunity.

Round one: gimmes (1–5)

1. πŸ„πŸ’πŸ‘¨β€πŸ”§

Super Mario Bros. β€” One mushroom turns a plumber into a giant, and nobody in this universe questions that logic.

2. β›οΈπŸŸ©πŸ§Š

Minecraft β€” Punch a tree, mine some blocks, and somewhere a creeper is already sneaking up behind you.

3. πŸŸ‘πŸ‘»πŸ’

Pac-Man β€” A yellow circle eats dots for a living and somehow still gets scared of ghosts.

4. 🟦πŸŸ₯πŸŸ¨β¬‡οΈ

Tetris β€” Blocks fall, lines clear, and forty years later people still play it on their phones during meetings.

5. πŸ§‘β€πŸš€πŸ”ͺ❓

Among Us β€” Nine crewmates, one of them lying, and every single group chat turned into a courtroom.

Round two: it gets real (6–14)

6. βš‘πŸ­πŸ”΄βšͺ

PokΓ©mon β€” A ten-year-old walks into tall grass with zero adult supervision and somehow builds a career.

7. πŸ—‘οΈπŸ›‘οΈπŸ§

The Legend of Zelda β€” The princess needs saving again, and somehow it's still the elf's job every single time.

8. πŸ¦”πŸ’¨πŸ’

Sonic the Hedgehog β€” He collects rings instead of health bars, which is either genius or just insurance for hedgehogs.

9. πŸͺ‚πŸοΈπŸ”«

Fortnite β€” A hundred people land on one island and only one of them gets to do a silly dance about it.

10. πŸš—πŸ”«πŸ™οΈ

Grand Theft Auto β€” You can finish the story in thirty hours or just drive around causing chaos for the other two hundred.

11. 🐦😑🐷

Angry Birds β€” Birds launch themselves at pigs out of pure spite, and somehow that's the entire plot.

12. 🍬πŸ’₯🍭

Candy Crush Saga β€” Match three candies, wait for lives to regenerate, watch an entire afternoon disappear.

13. 🐀🟩🚫

Flappy Bird β€” One tap, one pipe, one rage quit. This bird ended more phones than it should have.

14. πŸ‘ΉπŸ”«πŸ”₯

Doom β€” Demons pour out of hell and one marine decides that's a personal problem he can solve alone.

Round three: no mercy (15–20)

15. πŸ°πŸ”΅πŸŸ 

Portal β€” The cake was never real, and somehow that's still the most quoted lie in gaming.

16. πŸ”₯βš”οΈπŸ’€

Dark Souls β€” You die, you learn the pattern, you die again anyway. That's the whole genre now.

17. πŸ„πŸ§ŸπŸŽ’

The Last of Us β€” A fungus takes over the world and somehow the scariest part is still the people who survived it.

18. πŸ€ πŸ΄πŸ”«

Red Dead Redemption 2 β€” You can pet the horse, rob a train, and still somehow end up crying by the campfire.

19. 🏝️🦝🎣

Animal Crossing β€” A raccoon puts you in crushing debt for a house, and you thank him for the opportunity.

20. πŸ’πŸŒ³βš”οΈ

Elden Ring β€” An entire map full of ways to die, and people still call it their comfort game.

Still want more

That's the pack β€” hopefully you did better than you're admitting in the group chat. If riddles aren't your speed and you'd rather race a clock, the full emoji quiz hub has streaks, a mystery emoji, and an arcade wing that never runs out. Or drop into The Daily Five for today's five-round test β€” new puzzle at midnight UTC, no account required, no mercy there either.