Ask HN: Do you get video games 'stuck' in you head? (see them when close eyes)

I used to, but I’ve since played so many games that I tend to get pastiches of them stuck. In particular my dreams almost always have game-like elements and mechanics in them, which can be fun, or a bit exhausting depending on the scope. Inventory management in a dream is inevitably a very confusing and frustrating experience, since everything changes when you stop paying direct attention to it.

What you're referring to is called "The Tetris Effect" and it seems to be a widely recognised phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect

I used to try using this as a way to design games as I try to sleep by 'playing' them in my head, since the game you see in your mind's eye is rarely exactly the game in reality, or at least, not in mine.

It hasn't exactly worked out, though. Mostly because I stuck at the part where I have to actually make the thing.

What do you suppose this effect is?

I suppose the brain has been wired to process the games rule system ( and/or physics ), so then your brain still has this primed.. Thoughts?

This used to happen to me a lot when I played video games (Halo 3). Mostly just the HUD, not really any details about the game itself.