6 Terminal Easter Eggs and Tricks that work in Linux, Unix, and OS X!

Emacs Tetris

I like to keep Tetris available on all my devices, phones, tablets, calculators, and computers.  But if you are running a Unix based Operating System, chances are pretty good that you already have Tetris available to be played!

Open the terminal and type "emacs". Press the escape key, and then "x". Finally type "tetris", and enjoy!

Emacs Psychotherapist

Following the example above, there is another absolutely unbelievable feature of emacs, the psychotherapist.  If you've never tried this before, I would highly recommend it. It is a little scary though on how well it does interpreting your problems.

Just like above, open the terminal and type "emacs". Press the escape key, and then "x". Finally type "doctor", and let your emotions flow freely.

Run Nyan Cat!

If you're looking to score some serious nerd-cred, look no further.  Enter the following command into terminal:

telnet miku.acm.uiuc.edu

Enjoy your non-stop nyan cat!

Start a Webserver From Any Directory

If you are too busy (lazy) to install xampp, you can use this command to start a very simple web server!

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

[More Information | Source]

Watch Star Wars Episode IV

If you are a die hard Star Wars fan, and have some free time and imagination, you can watch the entirety of Star Wars Episode IV from your favorite terminal application.  You will need to telnet using the following command:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

[More Information]

More Emacs Games

There are a TON of Emacs games so if you've already seen everything on this list before, and you have some time to play some classic games, here is a list!  The instructions for these games are the same for the first two on this list.  Enter "emacs" in the terminal, hit the escape key, then the "x" key, followed by anything on the list below.

• 5x5
• animate
• blackbox
• bruce
• cookie1
• decipher
• dissociate
• doctor
• dunnet
• fortune
• gamegrid
• gametree
• gomoku
• handwrite
• hanoi
• landmark
• life
• meese
• morse
• mpuz
• pong
• snake
• solitaire
• spook
• studly
• tetris
• yow
• zone

This is the list of games available on my machine, but your listing may be different! To see what is on your machine, enter this command:

ls /usr/share/emacs/22.1/lisp/play/

 Enjoy! Comments are welcomed as always, as well as more suggestions!  I'll be glad to add them and credit you for your additions.
Follow @KB3VFE