Players worldwide can’t seem to get enough of the phenomenon that is PlayerUnknown Battle Ground (PUBG). Particularly those in India, this game had garnered a sort of cult following that, from what I had learned, to remain as one of the largest and most spectacular entrances of a game into the Indian market.

And for a nation that is considered to be the world’s Information Technology capital, access to mobile is ubiquitous, not only PC. So naturally, when this cyclone of a game made its exodus onto mobile devices, it instantly became a hit on both Android and iOS. Even though this is a monumental step forward for the game studio behind PUBG Mobile, they certainly didn’t forget to have so fun. Scattered across the map are a bunch of quirky, amusing Easter Eggs waiting to be found.

So here are a couple, just for you.

A Tribute

PUBG did not start its life as an original idea. Instead, it came into life first as a heavily modded version of DayZ: A Zombie post-apocalypse survival game. First, though, Brendan Greene - the creator of this project - needed a server to host this mod.

And that is where DevilWalker came in to save the day.

Just another gamer among the crowd, but this one - bless his Soul - devoted his time into delivering a dedicated server to host Greene’s project. Soon enough, the game kicked itself to the top, separated itself from the shadow of DayZ to become its own brand.

Long story short, without DevilWalker: PUBG never would have existed.

So that’s why if you wander a bit in the Erangal map, you’ll find a graffiti sprayed onto the wall of an establishment the name of this bloke.

It’s heartwarming, really.

Erangal... Why?

Erangal - the central map of PUBG has, no doubt, a great sounding name.

In my opinion, it’s even a pretty and catchy-sounding one. With the name’s uniqueness, you could easily think that Greene had thought up the name while having his morning coffee next to a pad of paper and a pencil trying to brainstorm.

But no, the reality is pretty sweet: Erangal is a homage to Greene’s daughter, whose name is Eryn.

I hope Eryn wouldn’t mind that the place she gave her name to is a decayed, rusted out space surrounding highly radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I guess it’s the thought that counts.

Dacia

If you’re a PUBG veteran, you’d recognize Dacia as the name of one of the cars you can drive in the game. And if you’re just like Greene, whose favorite TV show is ‘Top Gear’, you’d also recognize the name as a personal joke running on the show.

Dacia is the name of a Romanian auto-maker, and since they’re so common in the area where Top Gear is hosted at, they didn’t hold back on making a joke out of it when they had the chance on national television.

PUBG and Greene then brought that joke from the telly down to your phone.

Pew Pew Pew

The M416 rifle in PUBG is a favorite weapon by many of its players. Accurate, and had an imposing appearance. The rifle is modeled after the AR-15 platform in real life, and I assumed that the name, mainly, the series following the M prefix is a direct homage to the Heckler & Koch 416 rifle.

Yes, the weapon is bad-arse, but you’d think otherwise when you take a closer look at it. The fire selector that controls the rifle’s mode of operation, specifically.

Normally, the selector can be switched to three options: Safe - Semi-Auto - Auto.

The developers scrapped all that and replaced them with, fittingly: No Pew - Pew - Pew Pew Pew.

I seriously advocate that we replace markings on all real-life rifles with this version, instead.

Remember What Came Before

Battle Royale is a theme that’s created by PUBG. Fortnite, Call of Duty Black Ops IV, etc. all took after this model spearheaded by the game. The name is derived from PUBG’s own inspiration behind its design, the film: “Battle Royale” - and to commemorate the movie, the crossbow that can be found in the game is its own unique Easter Egg.

“The greatest place on Earth.”

While walking the tracks in the map Miramar, you might have seen some paper on the building around the map. This poster seems to be placed by a random travel agency (Honestly, who in their right mind would book a Summer holiday to Chernobyl, of all places?) to persuade the player to go back to the original map of PUBG – Erangal.
They could’ve sold me out if they had thought of goading me to Bali instead.

I Hate School

For this buried secret, near Minas del Sur, you can try to touch down on the top of the mountain. This is rather difficult to do but Hell yeah, is it worth it (Well, to me, anyway).

On the summit of the mountain, you will find, strangely a traffic cone. Taped to the orangish cone is a Post-It along with a scribble: “I hate school.” This, I assume, is a reference to “School”. A destination in Erangal map, where, if you know what’s good for you, you will try to avoid at the beginning of the game. Humongous firefights often occur from the plenty loots, the claustrophobic corridors, and the abundance of covers.

I hate school, too, kid. Both in-game and in real life.

Plata o Plomo

If Erangal was inspired by the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Miramar’s setting is modeled after the Mexico - Land of Enchantment.

Well, now though, it’s not really enchanted anymore. Most people when thinking about Mexico, drugs instantly came to mind. This is further deepened by the popular Netflix’s show Narcos starring the infamous Pablo Escobar. There are plenty of sections on the map that are dedicated to the drug lord, with most notably a graffiti carrying one of many of his many bone-chilling quotes: “Plata o Plomo” which means “Silver or lead”.

Press F to Honk

It’s not something that’s easy to admit, but PUBG is going downhill with the infiltration, and widespread usage of hacks and mods, as well as various glitches and bugs here and there, peppered all across the game. And as always, while the studio busied itself trying to keep the game playable and the bad elements at bay, they didn’t forget to have some fun.

Try and find a pickup truck, then read the license plate. You’ll find: “F2HNK”.

It may be nonsensical at first, but let it sink in for a while, you’ll eventually realize that it’s an instruction: “Press F to Honk” - it said.
Not really. You don’t even need to be a veteran to know that that’s not the button for honking. That’s the eject button, and the moment you press it, you will find yourself flung out of the door and - most often, to your own death.

Newbies don’t know that, unfortunate for them. And when their keen eyes settle on the license plate and finally worked out the message. I can guess that there had been plenty of amused and annoyance when they unnecessarily died on the road in the middle of the game just because of some fun-loving devs’ poor advice.