phrase
Easter Egg
A hidden joke, message, or surprise tucked inside a piece of software, film, or product.
Origin
The earliest acknowledged software Easter egg appeared in the 1979 Atari 2600 game Adventure, where programmer Warren Robinett hid the message 'Created by Warren Robinett' in a secret room โ Atari did not allow credits at the time. Atari's marketing later called these hidden items 'Easter eggs', and the term spread to films, DVDs, websites, and product packaging.
Modern usage
Now ubiquitous: hidden lines in apps, secret levels in games, callbacks in Marvel films, devtool console messages. Looking for Easter eggs is itself a hobby.
In the wild
There's an Easter egg in the menu โ hold shift and click the logo five times.โ common usage
Tags
hidden
discovery