12 Ridiculous Video Game Ideas That Should Never Have Worked

9. Paperboy

A video game based on the grossly underpaid job that most people had as a kid. Why would kids spend their paper-round money on...a game about paper-rounds? Surely this would never catch on. However, the novelty factor clearly won out, as the game was ported to a bunch of platforms and has enjoyed its status as an iconic video game classic ever since. Despite having virtually no storyline and dated visuals for its period, the ridiculousness of Paperboy is what makes it work. The game is literally just a seven-day trip through the life of a paperboy, avoiding obstacles in the road and aiming papers at porches and mailboxes. If you smash the windows of your subscribers, they will cancel their subscriptions, and if you lose them all, then it's game over. Conversely, you can gain bonus points by screwing with non-subscribers, smashing their windows and tipping over their garbage cans. This anarchic spirit perhaps contributed to its success, but it's proof of how mainstream a very weird premise can become.