In recent months, there has been news about vintage video games such as Pac-Man and Tetris being operated using Bitcoin, and a flawless rendition of the legendary first-person shooter Doom being functional with Dogecoin. This might lead you to question: Hold on, how is that even possible? Il est raisonnable de s’en informer. Fortunately, the explanation is fairly straightforward, although initially, the idea of video games operating on blockchains, which are primarily created for digital currency, seems quite puzzling. However, with the introduction of protocols similar to NFTs on these blockchains, individuals are starting to embed forms of media such as artwork and even video games onto these distributed networks. They might do this either to ensure the content’s permanent preservation or simply for the unique thrill it offers. Regardless of their motivations, the outcome is the ability to play vintage games directly from the blockchain. Let’s take a quick glance at the mechanisms behind these developments, beginning with an accessible description of the technology that has enabled such progress. What exactly are Ordinals? In the beginning of 2023, the Ordinals protocol was introduced, serving as a method to convert various forms of media into digital assets that are recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is recognized as the first blockchain platform and host of the most renowned and highest-valued cryptocurrency. Contrary to platforms such as Ethereum and Solana where smart contracts can operate directly on the blockchain to facilitate NFTs or decentralized applications and games, Bitcoin inherently lacks this capability to run executable code. To address this, Casey Rodarmor ingeniously devised a solution with the creation of Ordinals. He found a method that allows individuals to encode media onto a single satoshi, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. It represents a mere one hundred-millionth of a whole Bitcoin. In contrast to numerous NFTs that depend on separate servers, the media associated with Ordinals is entirely incorporated into the actual blockchain. This means that any pieces of art, games, and applications that are uploaded onto the Bitcoin blockchain are wholly preserved and intact.