10 Secret Video Game Easter Eggs Left By Developers

6. Grand Theft Auto V’s Black Cellphones

Grand Theft Auto V Franklin
Rockstar

GTA V will probably go down in history as one of the most successful games of all time, still making sales numbers today even nine years and two console generations on from it's debut. It’s stuffed with plenty of content to keep players coming back for more and, like many of the other games in the series, is loaded with fun nods and secrets in its sprawling open world sandbox.

One such secret took three years for players to find and presumably they did so by pure chance as it requires bashing what appears to be a seemingly nonsense series of numbers into their phone. 1-999-367-3767 is the magic number and calling it causes the player's in-game phone to essentially change from day mode to night mode, swapping the background to black.

Oh, and also it triggers a random explosion above the player’s head for some reason?!

To this day it's not clear what the point of this is; with some players theorising it was an unfinished cheat code, part of a cut mission or something even more sinister as some claim that dialling the number whilst standing on Rebel radio tower causes an eerie Morse code to play.

Some believe that 1-999-367-3767 is code for "1-999-EMP-DROP" or, the definitely spookier sounding, "1-999-EMPEROR".

Contributor

Coming from a content creation background that now spans over two decades, Psy cut her teeth on personal video production and community radio. Originally joining the team as a writer and presenter, she added video editing duties to her responsibilities over time and became the longest-standing editor of the irreverent gaming show Tues Your Own Adventure. Psy has worked on many previews and reviews, long-form editorials (either her own, or supporting as an editor), as a frequent quizmaster and more. Praised for the two-pronged attack of her hard work ethic and light-hearted editing style, Psy is otherwise known as a font of retro video game knowledge which has caused her to rack up many quiz wins. Outside of WhatCulture, Psy runs First Aid Spray Podcast - a long-running channel that focuses on Resident Evil in all of it's forms. You can follow her on BlueSky at http://psywhite.bsky.social and Instagram at http://instagram.com/therealpsywhite