A strange little side quest
Even a quick game like Pinkys Pancakes sits on top of decades — and sometimes centuries — of ideas. Tomatoes helped turn Naples' flatbreads into the food we recognize as pizza, which had become an important food for poorer Neapolitans by the 18th century. Another piece of context lands nicely beside it: SimCity grew out of Will Wright's enjoyment of the map editor he had built for an earlier game; the act of shaping a city became the game itself. Not bad for a few facts hiding behind a Play button.
