Video: Doom Video Game Played On Pregnancy Test Kit; Real Or Fake?

Over the last few years, the number of technological advancements has shot up more than 100 folds. Just 10 years ago, video gaming was something only rich people could afford; but now you can get a phone, capable of running games for less than Rs. 5,000.

A recent Reddit post saw a lot of reposts for a video that showcased a user playing Doom game on a pregnancy test kit. Yes, a simple pregnancy test kit with a monochrome display. Wondering how a pregnancy test kit played the game? Here’s how it was pulled off.

Technical Aspects

According to Twitter user Foone, the pregnancy test kit comes with a monochrome display with a resolution of 128 x 32 and it has a bandwidth of 1bpp and even the CPU isn't capable of running Doom even after modifications.

The author further explains that he had to change both the display and the CPU on the pregnancy test kit to make it work. He confirms that the current display is slightly bigger and cannot be fitted into a body of the pregnancy test kit but in the coming days the author will try to achieve it.

The video that has gone viral on the internet has a replacement display with the Teensy 3.2 CPU. Further, the author claims that the viral video is not actually playing Doom game, as even with the upgraded CPU and the display, the horsepower is not enough to run the game.

Instead, it can play a Doom video game footage in the loops that looks like actual gameplay. One might also ask why a pregnancy test kit needs a CPU and a display and according to the author, a CPU based pregnancy test kit will be much more accurate when compared to a paper-based pregnancy test kit, hence, there is a demand for accurate pregnancy test kits even though they are very expensive.

Yesterday I had a lot of retweets and reddit posts and such for playing Doom on a pregnancy test.
But as I explained then, it wasn't really PLAYING on a pregnancy test, it was just a video being played back, not an interactive game.

Well, now it is. It's Pregnancy Test Doom! pic.twitter.com/Nrjyq07EVv

— foone (@Foone) September 7, 2020