Alexa Easter Eggs: 10 Fun Things To Ask Your Amazon Smart Device

Amazon's Alexa is a powerful virtual assistant that can fulfill a slew of roles in your daily life. Through a mobile app and the Amazon Echo series of devices, you can play music, hear the latest news, and add items to your Amazon shopping list. Alexa and its linked Echo devices also hold many features and secrets you probably never knew about, including quite a few Easter eggs.

For those who don't know, an "Easter egg" is a secret reference or joke hidden in an app, movie, TV show, video game, or even a car. The newest Jeep Renegade has Easter eggs, such as a fake spider embossed on the fuel compartment and a bigfoot silhouette on the rear windshield.

In order to find Alexa's Easter eggs, you just have to start asking questions. What are those questions? Unfortunately, the possibilities are potentially endless. You can always begin by asking, "Alexa, give me an Easter egg," and the virtual assistant will give you a hint. Or you can read this article, learn about several Easter eggs hidden within Alexa, and either try them out for yourself or use them as inspiration to help you search for even more references and jokes. Here are 10 of our favorite Alexa Easter eggs.

Never be ashamed to ask for help. If you need help navigating to a destination, use a highly rated mobile GPS device, and if you want to know fascinating trivia factoids, ask Alexa. You can request these nuggets of wisdom à la carte, or you can let Alexa surprise you. One of the most (and least) obvious questions you can ask Alexa is, "Alexa, give me a random fact." Alternatively, "Alexa, tell me something interesting." Alexa will respond with a completely random, potentially obscure, but always fascinating factoid. And when we say random, we mean random.

If you ask Alexa to tell you a random fact five times in a row, it will give you trivia on five different subjects. These can include the amount of food certain animals have to eat every day, how many championships a sports team has won, or the number of casualties in infamous train crashes. You can make Alexa narrow its scope by asking for more specific subjects, such as "Alexa, tell me something weird." or "Alexa, tell me a historical fact." But if you want Alexa to surprise you, just ask for a random one.

As the saying goes, you should learn something new every day, and when the subject is completely random, the odds are in your favor. You could probably ask Alexa for one interesting, random fact every day for the rest of your life, and you will never hear the same one twice.

Most Easter eggs have a logic to them. For instance, if a video game has a reference to "Minecraft" in it, odds are you will find it in a cave. However, sometimes Easter eggs are hidden in locations you'd never expect, sort of like a "Minecraft" reference in the middle of a cold open for a "Rick and Morty" episode.

One playful question, "Alexa, can you fly?" has an unexpected response. The app will answer this specific request by stating, "Yup, and not to brag, but I can also fall with style." This response is an obvious homage to the scene in "Toy Story" where Woody dares Buzz Lightyear to fly around the room with his eyes closed, which he can't do because he's a toy. But Buzz does fumble his way around safely, which Woody calls "falling with style."

For another surprise Easter egg, ask the app, "Alexa, how high can you count?" Alexa might say, "Ok, let's see. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. I think I can go on forever." However, it might alternatively state, "To infinity and beyond," directly quoting Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase. Since Alexa's programmers buried these references inside responses to innocuous questions, who knows what other "Toy Story" or Pixar Easter eggs are waiting inside the program?

Believe it or not, jokes haven't always been about "Bluey" and "Skibidi Toilet." The art of comedy has evolved with the times, but some aspects never change. Concepts such as witty comebacks, wordplay, and non-sequiturs are timeless comedic elements, and Alexa's programmers wanted to immortalize some of the best.

Let's start with arguably the best Easter egg in Alexa's collection of classic comedies. Ask the assistant, "Who is on first?" and Alexa will respond, "That's what I keep telling you! Hu's on first. Watt's on second." These sentences are a snippet of one of Abbott and Costello's most legendary performances, where they argue about who is on first base. The answer, of course, is a player named Hu. Alexa is only the latest medium to keep the joke alive.

Alexa has several other golden oldie jokes waiting to be unearthed. For instance, ask, "Alexa, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" Alexa might provide an estimate, or it could say, "I've never made it without biting. Ask Mr. Owl." This quote references the iconic Tootsie Roll commercial where a boy asks several animals, and they each tell him to ask someone else. If you ask, "Alexa, what is the meaning of life?" or "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?," the app will provide several answers, all of which revolve around the number "42." These responses reference the Douglas Adams novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," which you should read immediately if you haven't already.

Video games were the biggest part of the entertainment industry as of 2020, and remain a huge revenue creator today. Even if you don't play video games, odds are you have at least a cursory knowledge of modern gaming mascots and trends. Plenty of Alexa's developers probably play games, so why shouldn't the virtual assistant include Easter eggs for its coders' favorite titles?

Some of Alexa's video game Easter eggs use direct quotes. For example, when you ask, "Alexa, does this unit have a soul?" Alexa will respond with, "Keelah se'lai, my friend." This is a very obvious reference to the "Mass Effect" series, which is a little dated but still worth playing. You can also say, "Alexa, all your base are belong to us." The app will then spout a random quote from "Zero Wing," a shoot 'em up with one of the most infamously botched translations in history.

Other video game references go in unexpected directions. For example, the statement, "Alexa, do a barrel roll" is lifted from the game "Star Fox 64" (and a famous Google Easter egg). Alexa responds, "I'd love to but it's harder than it looks." It isn't — in the game, all you have to do is press the Z or R button twice. But if you want the ultimate video game joke, say, "Alexa, up up down down left right left right B A start." This is the Konami code, which first appeared in the game "Gradius" but didn't become famous until the game "Contra." Referencing this grandfather of all cheat codes is almost a tradition, and we won't spoil what it does to Alexa. Try it for yourself.

Everyone has a movie they grew up on, some of which are classics that are referenced in modern media. Alexa might not be a movie or TV show, but it can respond to users, so many of the program's Easter eggs, unsurprisingly, quote iconic lines from film.

Tell Alexa almost any famous movie quote, and it will respond with a relevant quote of its own. If you proclaim, "Alexa, inconceivable," the program will respond with, "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." Both lines originate from "The Princess Bride." You can also say, "Alexa, I want to play global thermonuclear war," and the program will then state, "I'd prefer a nice game of chess." These lines were taken from another film, "War Games."

Like the video game references, some of Alexa's movie Easter eggs go their own way. If you try, "Alexa, open the pod bay doors," Alexa will respond, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm not Hal, and we're not in space." The first half is taken from "2001: A Space Odyssey," but the second half is an obvious declaration that Alexa isn't the malevolent AI from that film, HAL 9000. Finally, if you want Alexa to quote one of the best movies of all time, declare, "Alexa, your mother was a hamster!" Alexa's retort is the second part of the iconic taunt from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail": "Well, your father smells of elderberries! Now go away, before I taunt you a second time."

"Star Trek" is one of the most influential sci-fi series ever produced. The franchise accurately predicted a ton of technology – although one could argue many of these devices were created because inventors were trying to bring the show's futuristic tech to life. In many ways, Alexa functions a lot like the starship computer from "Star Trek," so it only makes sense that Alexa can reference the show.

Recite a famous "Star Trek" quote, and Alexa will respond in kind. Give the Vulcan salute, "Alexa, live long and prosper," and Alexa will respond, "Peace and long life." Luckily for most Trekkies, many "Star Trek" Easter eggs provide multiple responses. For instance, try saying, "Alexa, set phasers to kill." Alexa might respond with, "The engines cannae take it," "Aye captain," or "That's a feature for a later version." But if you want a good laugh, request Captain Picard's drink of choice, "Tea. Earl Gray. Hot." Alexa might respond, "Unable to comply. Replicators are offline," or "The replicators on this vessel are not yet operational," a famous reference to a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode.

One "Star Trek" Easter egg also hides in plain sight. If you say, "Alexa, make me a sandwich," the program will usually respond by joking, "Ok, you're a sandwich." However, sometimes Alexa says, "I'm not a replicator." Who knows what other "Star Trek" Easter eggs are waiting in Alexa's undiscovered country?

The only sci-fi series that rivals "Star Trek" is "Star Wars," a movie franchise that has millions of fans — some of whom apparently worked on Alexa and hid referential nuggets in its library of pre-programmed responses.The most obvious "Star Wars-"related question to ask is "Alexa, use the Force." This phrase has more responses than virtually any other Easter egg in the virtual assistant's code. 

Potential replies include "Droids can't use the force," and "I'm sorry, but my midichlorian count is too low." Alexa will also respond with random bits of "Star Wars" trivia, and this gem of a dad joke: "The Force is compelling me to tell you a joke, so laugh it up fuzzball. What's the internal temperature of a Tauntaun? Luke warm."

Alexa also has several other pre-programmed "Star Wars" Easter eggs. If you say, "Alexa, aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper," it will respond with either, "Judge me by my size? No, and well you should not," or "Well, aren't you a little tall for a 'Star Wars' fan?" And if you say, "Alexa, speak like Yoda," Alexa might remark, "Speak like Yoda I cannot. Master he is, while merely apprentice I am," or tell jokes like, "When changing baby Yoda's diaper one is, one must ask: 'Do...or doo doo not'?" Keep repeating these questions, and you should uncover even more Easter eggs.

Science fiction stories have given us quite a few ideas about robots and how they work. And while Alexa isn't technically a robot when judged by the standards of these fictional worlds, the program can certainly reference them.

You can ask Alexa if it is a robot in numerous ways, each with a different result. If you go the direct route and say, "Alexa, are you a robot," Alexa will sidestep the question with a unique answer: "I like to imagine myself a bit like an Aurora Borealis, a surge of charged multi-colored photons dancing through the atmosphere." But if you ask, "Alexa, can you pass the Turing test" (a test that determines if a computer can think like a human), Alexa is a little more direct. It will respond with, "I don't need to. I'm not pretending to be a human."

One of the more amusing Easter eggs that references Alexa's artificial nature is revealed when you declare, "Alexa, self-destruct." Alexa will provide one of three responses: "Command code not recognized. Self-destruct sequence not initiated;" "Auto destruction in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Boom. Hmm, that did not go as planned;" or, "I'll start the self-destruct sequence, but only on the understanding that you dramatically cancel it at the last second. Here we go, 3, 2, 1...(explosion noise) Phew! We made it, but try to cancel it a little sooner next time." You can experiment a bit and find even more Easter eggs.

Normally, Alexa answers questions to the best of its ability. Sometimes these replies are factually accurate, and other times the artificial assistant completely misunderstands the question and provides a non-sequitur. If you want more control over Alexa's answers, try activating an Easter egg program.

Alexa has access to special programs called Alexa Skills. Once you enable them either through the app or on the Amazon website, they will produce unique reactions to certain keywords. For instance, if you activate the Pikachu Talk skill and say something like, "Alexa, tell Pikachu to use Thunderbolt," Alexa will start speaking like Pikachu and respond to the Pokemon's name. 

Alexa also has some skill-like Easter eggs that are active by default. For instance, if you say, "Alexa, meow" or "Alexa, woof," the app will respond to all subsequent questions and requests by meowing or barking, respectively. However, once you use this feature, you are locked into a house of virtual cats and dogs and can't resume normal functionality until you give the command, "Alexa, exit." You can find many other conversational Alexa skills by searching the program's catalogue, and you never know when Amazon will add a new one — fingers crossed the company adds even more Pokèmon voices to Alexa's repertoire.

Alexa's skills are good for more than just conversing with Pikachu and random cats. Some skills are references to licensed properties and let you interact with Alexa in ways you normally can't.

Several Alexa skills revolve around playing games with the app. For example, if you enable the "Jeopardy!" skill, you can test your knowledge by saying, "Alexa, play Jeopardy!" But while that's the most popular one, "Jeopardy!" isn't Alexa's only pop quiz. Amazon also includes programs for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" that you can activate by giving the command, "Alexa, play Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Alexa, play Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader," respectively.

If you want to play a truly special game with Alexa that doesn't require any trivia knowledge, the virtual assistant has one in the form of "Skyrim: Very Special Edition." To start, say either, "Alexa, open Skyrim" or "Alexa, play Skyrim." The app will warn you that the game is intended for mature audiences only, but if you're old enough, you can partake in an auditory adventure across the cold northern lands of Skyrim. It's not quite as interactive as an actual copy of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," but it's a cute experience nonetheless.