Move Over Toasters: Doom Is Now Playable Inside a PDF

Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, seemingly pushing the boundaries of what's possible. However, a high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: porting Doom to a PDF file playable within a browser.

While lacking sound and text (minor details, right?), you can now play E1M1 while procrastinating on those 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 was enough.

Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly playable, albeit slow (80ms per frame), version of Doom. The Javascript capabilities allowed for complex computations, resulting in a surprisingly legible port.

Although it won't replace your PS5, the accomplishment of running Doom within a PDF file is remarkable. Even TetrisPDF creator Thomas Rinsma praised ading2210's "neater" version on Hacker News.

While not ideal for a first Doom experience, the ongoing trend of running Doom on unusual platforms, files, and even bacteria remains endlessly entertaining.