This is just the kind of brain teaser that Xbox Game Pass presented to gamers: one able to burn a few neurons should one even dare to solve it.
One retro lineup was tweeted by the official account with the caption: “one of these does not belong. can you spot the fake?” And boys… these choices were violently insane.
You have River Raid, Frostbite, and… Venetian Blinds!? What the hell!? Yep: Seems like one of them is outright a fake, and, well, the internet had thoughts.
Awesome kudos to whoever called out Paper Organizer just from the get-go as the fake one. I mean, come on, who’s out here organizing virtual papers for fun? But it all went south when someone started raising this whole thing about Venetian Blinds technically being a real game—or at least a tech demo that somehow made its way into compilations around then. So here we are, debating if a game about adjusting window blinds actually counts as a “classic.”
Some players were distracted by the August Game Pass lineup (or lack thereof); thus, they did not really care. “Don’t care, can y’all give us the line up for August?” one frustrated gamer responded. “Rn all I’m seeing is Farming Simulator & Gears Reloaded.” Fair enough.
And without a doubt, some guy just had to come out and proclaim himself “one of the best in the world at Venetian Blinds,” going on a long rant about his ability to “raise them, lower them, turn the blades up AND down.” Dude, this is a Wendy’s.
Best case scenario for some gamers was to just assume Paper Organizer was actually a real game, because they argued, and I quote, “they made so many weird games anyways.” Honestly? Honestly, they kind of have a point. The Atari era was basically a wild west of experimental game design, so who’s to say someone didn’t make a thrilling paper-filing simulator?
Naturally, Xbox Game Pass couldn’t help but respond by adding, “blinded by the blinds,” to one player.
While the frenzy powering the debate continues to rage, one thing is for sure: Gamers have strong feelings about what constitutes a retro classic—whether genuine or false. And, of course, if Xbox really wanted to troll us, they’d unleash Paper Organizer as a surprise Game Pass drop next month.
So, are we going with majority? Mostly, programmers say Paper Organizer is the odd one out, but frankly, after all this craze, I don’t think anything really surprises me anymore. Probably next goes Toaster Simulator or Laundry Folder to keep us going.
Meanwhile, if you want some real retro, stick to River Raid. Well, that is for sure… probably.
