Someone Got Doom Working Inside A PDF File

A crafty high-schooler was able to do something I didn’t think was possible: They got Doom running inside a PDF file. Seriously. And weirdly, it works better than you might expect!

Over the last two decades, getting id Software’s 1993 classic FPS Doom to run on devices that were never intended to play games has become a popular hobby among modders and tinkerers. In the last few years alone, we’ve seen Doom ported to tractors, ATMs, pregnancy tests, and even on Twitter via tweets. And now, you can add PDF files to the list of “Things That You Can Play Doom On.”

As spotted by IGN, Github user and self described “high school student” Ading2210 has created a small website that lets you play a PDF version of Doom. Click here to play Doom in a PDF. (Note that it only works in Chromium browsers.)

Here’s a video of this new PDF port of Doom in action:

How is this possible, you might ask? Aren’t PDF files just static images or text? Surprisingly, that’s not exactly true. According to Ading2210, PDF files support JavaScript, and this is used by most modern browsers to display PDFs. Adding2210 took advantage of this and used ASCII characters to create the visuals you see when playing Doom’s PDF port. You can read the full descirption of how this was all achieved over on the Github page. It’s very impressive.

Now you might be wondering: Why is Doom so easy to port? Well, that’s because Id Software released Doom’s source code in 1997—just four years after the game’s explosive debut. Since then, fans have spent the past 25+ years creating “source ports” of the shooter that both extend the game in countless ways and let you play it on practically anything.

Can you imagine, in 2025, a video game company releasing a hugely popular game’s source code a few years after launch? It’s wild to think about. But thanks to that source code release decades ago, fans have been able to port Doom to basically anything. I can’t wait to see what the next weird port of Doom looks like.

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