Move Over Toasters: Doom Is Now Playable Inside a PDF

Doom has been ported to so many devices—toasters, fridges, you name it—that finding a truly novel platform feels impossible. Yet, 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?), this version lets you conquer E1M1 while procrastinating on your taxes.

GitHub user and high school student ading2210, inspired by the TetrisPDF project, tackled this challenge. Leveraging Javascript within a browser's PDF reader, ading2210 overcame browser security limitations to bring Doom to this unusual format.

The PDF's Javascript capabilities allowed ading2210 to perform the necessary computations. Using a six-color ASCII grid for sprites and graphics, the result is surprisingly legible, despite a frame rate of 80ms.

It might not replace your PS5, but seeing Doom running inside a PDF is undeniably impressive, especially given its readability.

TetrisPDF creator Thomas Rinsma, commenting on Hacker News, praised ading2210's version as "neater in many ways."

While not ideal for a first Doom playthrough, the novelty of seeing Doom on absurd platforms—from devices to files (and even gut bacteria!)—remains endlessly entertaining.