playground rumor

playground rumor (plural playground rumors)

1. An imaginative rumor, misconception, or urban legend spread among children, or regarded as similarly unconvincing.
   • 2009 October 13, Theresa Tamkins, “A H1N1 flu to-do (and don't do) list”, in CNN‎:

     However, the onslaught of information about H1N1 -- be it playground rumors, employer signs telling you to cover your cough, memos from your kids' school, or scary-sounding news reports -- is making it pretty hard to figure out what you should be doing right now.

   • 2022 April 15, Kayla Kibbe, “Can You Catch Cavities by Kissing?”, in InsideHook‎:

     In what sounds like an elementary school playground rumor, a TikTok dentist has warned her followers that cavities can spread by kissing.

   • 2024 March 19, Keith Phipps, “The ‘80s in 40: ‘Poltergeist’ (June 4, 1982)”, in The Reveal‎:

     Of course, that’s not the only such moment in Poltergeist, as those who dared to check out the source of all those playground rumors found out.

   • 2025 May 30, “The good and bad of being a child actor, according to Jerry Mathers”, in MeTV‎:

     Beaver had his moments—like forgetting his homework, falling for playground rumors, or being unsure how to handle a tricky situation—but Mathers was much more brave and self-assured.

   1. (video games) An unverifiable claim of hidden or unlockable content in a video game (especially associated with the late 1990s, before the Internet trivialized debunking such claims).
      • 2011 February 4, Andy Robertson, “Playground Report on Pilotwings Resort 3DS”, in Wired‎, archived from the original on 2025-07-03:

        Something about the new handheld from Nintendo has captured my kid’s imagination. The thing is, I’m not exactly sure how they have found out so much about it. Their overblown expectations and exaggerated claims about the device seem to suggest the playground rumor mill to me.

      • 2023 December 16, Abbie Maxwell, “How to catch Meloetta in Pokémon Scarlet / Violet – The Indigo Disk”, in Nintendo Wire‎:

        Almost immediately following the official release of The Indigo Disk expansion for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, datamining revealed that players should be able to encounter the Mythical Pokémon Meloetta somewhere in the new map. Despite this, it took two days for anyone to actually successfully do so. Fans of the “Mew is under the truck” playground rumor from back in the day get ready, as the method for actually finding this musical mystery is extremely specific.

      • 2024 July 24, Jack Peachey, “Minecraft’s Herobrine Creepypasta Explained”, in Game Rant‎:

        From the Aether dimension to the meaning behind discs 11 and 13, Minecraft's fanbase have created quite a bit of folklore for the game over the years. However, no tall tale or playground rumor has surpassed Herobrine, Minecraft's most infamous urban legend, in popularity.

      • 2024 November 5, Catherine Lewis, “Pokemon TCG Pocket playground rumors about boosting rare card chances are running wild, but at least this in-game event offers a good shot at getting a sparkly Lapras”, in GamesRadar+‎:

        Pokemon's latest mobile venture launched last week, and it's proving to be very popular, so much so that there are already playground rumors aplenty about how to supposedly boost your chances of getting rare cards which you definitely shouldn't put too much stock into.

      • 2025 June 12, Jacqueline Zalace, “We All Believed These Video Game Playground Rumors, But Were Any Of Them Actually True?”, in TheGamer‎:

        This isn't just a playground rumor though; Minus World is real! We found an article from 2010, translating information about the Minus World from Miyamoto himself. He mentions that the world is a bug, but since it's not game-crashing, it's a feature.