Martin Scorcese’s 1986 movie The Color of Money has had a surprisingly deep influence on video games. The movie itself stars Tom Cruise and Paul Newman as pool hustlers at different stages in their lives. The movie itself is a sequel to Newman’s 1959 movie The Hustler, and the three men associated with the project made it the definition of cool. At one point, Tom Cruise shows up at a pool hall with a custom pool cue in a case. “What do you have in there?” asks someone. “Doom,” he responds. That scene was enough for programmer John Carmack, who named Doom in its honor.
