A Cheating Retrospective: The 5 Game Cheats of a 90s Kid

By Gregory John "G.J." Vitale on May 31, 2013

As children of the 90s, we grew up playing games on the cusp of a technological revolution. Cheating has and always will exist in all sorts of games (see speedball kid), but it seems that with more ways to access vital information, we have  many more opportunities to sway the odds in our favor. For the serious gamer, cheating is cheating is cheating and there is no excuse. I would argue that cheating, although intolerable during multi-player games, can, at times, be acceptable for the solo gamer. I would just ask, from all of us you call your friends, don’t brag to me about it if you cheated. Below, we’re talking about good, old-fashioned cheating…no codes or secret tunnels.

1. In early childhood, Monopoly. There are many opportunities to cheat at Monopoly, just like most other board games, but the one I want to highlight is an unintentional cheat we’ve all committed. What happens when you land on the “FREE PARKING” space? Actually, nothing is supposed to happen. That’s right. According to official Monopoly rules, that space is literally a free space with no connections to the gameplay whatsoever. The money in the middle of the board can never be collected by a player. This anomaly, which has been discussed and shared over the Internet recently, may disturb many of you. I know that personally, despite what Monopoly itself says, I still play where you collect the money for landing on FREE PARKING because it gives the loser at the table a glint of hope and we all deserve a little hope in dire times.

2. During mid-childhood, Pokemon. Ok, so again I realize there are multiple places to cheat in the old Pokemon games for the GameBoy (on a separate note, where’s GameGirl?), but I will bet everyone who played the Red or Blue versions took advantage of that Rare Candy cheat on Cinnibar Island with great haste once it was known to you. “Yeah, all my Pokemon are on level 99 big whoop wanna fight about it?” Another easy cheat on this game was saving before entering into an intense battle or a pivotal point in the game, that way, shutting off the game would just send you back to the moment before you messed up. Not really a cheat, but more like the ultimate insurance policy.

3. During adolescence, Halo. - I guess this will probably apply to most multi-player shooting games, but I remember Halo for its introducing screen-peeking to me. It became an event in and of itself to accuse a fellow player of committing this gaming crime. Games like Halo, which are 95% dependent upon your guy’s individual location at any point, can be taken advantage of during split-screen gaming. If I simply look to the other side of the TV (your guy’s POV), I can tell exactly where you are and situate my guy for the perfect take out. You get the idea.

Me upset with Words With Friends…just the usual

4. As a young adult, Words with Friends. - Oh man do I personally hate this one the most. I’m a pretty competitive person, so when you drop a 6-letter word that no one except Webster himself has ever heard of, I get a little ticked off. It isn’t hard to cheat at a game when your opponent is not even in the same room as you. I’m sure with Google, you could find yourself a decent words with friends cheat program and your opponent can do nothing but accuse you without any hope of proving your guilt.

5. Until death, Crossword puzzles. You’ve done it, I’ve done it. Let’s just leave it at that.

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