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TIL the original version of The Game of Life (then called The Checkered Game of Life, released in 1860) had a 'Suicide' space that would cause you to instantly lose.

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yXo8 TIL in 1953 a newspaper boy was paid with a coin which he found to be hollow and contain a coded message. He gave it to authorities but the code could not be deciphered. Years later, a Russian spy in the U.S. defected and during his interrogation was shown the coin and code. The message was for him.
Z88MY TIL of Terry Grosz, a fish and game warden that caught illegal fishers by waiting in the Eel river in a wetsuit and reeled himself in when the fisherman cast out their lines. After writing citations and confiscating their fishing rods, he went back into the river and swam away.
kJ5rE TIL of Dr. Jessie Lazear, an American physician who studied yellow fever under the famous Dr. Walter Reed. He allowed himself to be bitten by an infected mosquito, and died of the disease himself 17 days later, confirming how the disease was spread. His sacrifice saved millions.
dDXjB TIL that the star Betelgeuse gets its English name due to a 13th century translation error from the Arabic ‘Yad al-Jauzā’ (Hand of Orion) because some one mistook the Arabic letter for Y (ي) for the letter for B (ب). Written as part of a word, the only difference is an extra dot on the bottom for Y.
d8WEK TIL that Female dragonflies fake a crash-and-die scenario in order to prevent males from harassing them to mate