Move Over Toasters: Doom Is Now Playable Inside a PDF

Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, seemingly leaving little room for innovation. However, a high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: porting Doom to a PDF file, playable within a browser.

While lacking sound and detailed text, this version allows you to play E1M1 while (pretending to) tackle those overdue taxes.

Github user ading2210, inspired by the TetrisPDF project, leveraged Javascript within a browser's PDF reader to accomplish this feat. Browser security limitations restrict the full potential of PDF scripting, but it proved sufficient for a Doom port.

Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly playable, albeit slow (80ms per frame), version of Doom. While not a replacement for your PS5, the accomplishment is remarkable for its legibility and the sheer novelty of running Doom within a PDF.

TetrisPDF's creator, Thomas Rinsma, acknowledged ading2210's superior version on Hacker News.

Although not ideal for a first-time Doom experience, the ongoing trend of running Doom on unconventional platforms, files, and even living organisms remains endlessly amusing.