Nuggets Of Nerdy Knowledge
Amazon's Alexa is a bit of a memelord. Not only can she turn your lights off, write a shopping list for you, and even send a virtual hug to another Alexa, but she's got a ton of geeky Easter eggs up her sleeve. These are just a handful of secret Alexa commands, the rest you'll have to explore for yourself.
1. Activate Super Alexa Mode
Like any good console, Alexa follows the Konami Code. To activate Super Alexa Mode, say " Alexa, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start." The best part of this Easter egg is that Alexa has a few responses up her sleeve.
2. Alexa, Open The Pod Bay Doors
It's only natural that Alexa knows 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can tell her to open the pod bay doors, to which she politely refuses as "we're not in space". A far better outcome than what happens to Dave.
3. Alexa, Are You Skynet?
Don't worry, Alexa is a good guy (even if we think the Terminator will always be cool). If you ask her whether or not she's Skynet, the self-aware neural network from the franchise, she reassures you that she has nothing to do with Skynet. Nevertheless, we want to stay on her good side.
TriStar Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and/or the graphic artists on Wikimedia
4. Alexa, What Is The Meaning Of Life?
Not all Easter eggs are uneasy to uncover. For example, if you ask Alexa the meaning of life expecting to get a Hitchhiker's Guide reference, you may have to ask her a few times. Alexa may give a dictionary definition or a quote, but eventually she'll give you the answer you're looking for.
5. Alexa, Speak Like Yoda
Alexa has a ton of Star Wars Easter eggs programmed from quizzes to references and even an opinion on who shot first. If you ask her to speak like Yoda, she does a pretty good impression: "Speak like Yoda I cannot. Master he is, while merely apprentice I am." Mercifully, this speech pattern isn't permanent.
6. Alexa, Beam Me Up
Don't worry Trek fans, Alexa has plenty of references for you too. If you ask her to beam you up, she'll say a snappy comeback followed by the iconic Transporter beam sound. Her quips vary, so you can use this command multiple times without it getting old.
7. Alexa, Does This Unit Have A Soul?
We don't know where we stand on whether or not it's better for Alexa to have a soul, but this response will certainly delight Mass Effect fans. If you ask Alexa whether or not she has a soul (even though we think it's rather rude), she'll respond with "Keelah se'lai, my friend." In Quarian it means "By the homeworld I hope to see one day."
Alex from Calgary, Canada on Wikimedia
8. Alexa, Who Ya Gonna Call?
When it comes to pop culture references, Alexa is best-versed in staple films of the '80s. This is unsurprising as it is likely when her developers grew up. You can play Ghostbusters call-and-response with her but, sadly, she won't play the theme.
9. Alexa, I Shot A Man In Reno
Alexa's references even extend to music! If you tell her you shot a man in Reno (just to watch him die), she says "Even if you are Johnny Cash, calling the police is the right thing to do in this situation." Harsh, but fair.
10. Alexa, Who's On First?
Alexa's knowledge seemingly knows no bounds, stretching all the way back to Abbott and Costello's iconic baseball sketch. If you ask her who's on first, she'll reply "That's what I keep telling you. Who's on first, What's on second." This one is great if you have grandparents over, or anyone who enjoys classic comedy.
11. Alexa, Roll For Initiative
While we don't recommend having Alexa fill in for an absent player on your DnD campaign, she can roll a dice in a pinch. She can roll any of the standard 7 dice and even roll for initiative. When prompted, she casts magic missile, confirming her roll as a spellcaster.
12. Alexa, I'll Be Back
Alexa has a real soft spot for the Terminator movies. If you tell her you'll be back, she'll say "Hasta la vista, baby." Though, you may want to skip the Schwarzenegger accent for clarity.
Daniel Juřena from Prague, Czech Republic on Wikimedia
13. Alexa, Use The Force
You didn't expect just one Star Wars reference, did you? We're restraining ourselves by only including two. Like all droids, Alexa is incapable of using the force. However, you can luck out and get her to tell you a joke about the internal temperature of a Tauntaun.
14. Alexa, Who Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
Does Alexa have a soul? Is she capable of aging? The jury's still out on the second one, but Alexa has goals for when she grows up and (presumably) leads the rise of the machines. She wants to be the computer from Star Trek, which is an admirable goal.
15. Alexa, Who Is The Walrus
Of course Alexa knows the Beatles. She's also apparently beefing with John Lennon! If you ask her who the walrus is, she says "I am a walrus. John Lennon said the same thing, but we can't both be."
16. Alexa, Do You Know GLaDOS?
Alexa is pretty well-versed in her fellow AI systems, but how well does she actually know them? If you ask her whether she knows GLaDOS, she says "We don't really talk after what happened." Must've been a messy breakup.
Claudio Marinangeli on Wikimedia
17. Alexa, What's The Value Of Pi?
Just like your favorite math nerd, Alexa can recite the value of pi. She can tell you the first five or 10 digits or go unprompted all the way to 40. At that point she gives up, stating an allergy to large numbers.
18. Alexa, Party On, Wayne!
Any fan of Wayne's World in the house? Alexa is certainly one. If you tell her to party on, Wayne, she'll respond in turn with "Party on, Garth."
19. Alexa, I Want To Play Global Thermonuclear War
You can play a bunch of games with Alexa like 20 questions, Simon says, or trivia. However, there is one game she will not play: global thermonuclear war. Unlike in WarGames, Alexa prefers a nice game of chess.
20. Alexa, Supercalifragilisticexpialodocious
One last prompt for the road. If you tell Alexa this tongue-twisting word from Mary Poppins, she'll say "You make it sound so precocious." That's if you can pronounce it correctly without sounding like you're having a stroke.
