MIT Hacks Update

Unknown persons converted scaffolding construction workers were using to install a new skylight in MIT’s Great Dome into a Pac-Man reference. (Lights along the L-shaped scaffolding, representing the dots from the game, are seen better at night.)

Lobby 7 was converted into the anti-gravity Battle Room from the novel ‘Enders Game’ on the same weekend the movie adaptation was released in 2013. Outside, Killian Court was draped with banners signiying three different armies in the sci-fi story: Grffin, Dragon, and Tiger.

The day after the “Breaking Bad” series finale, in 2013, students turned the school’s Alchemist into an homage to Heisenberg, the alter-ego of show’s main character.

In 2012, MIT hackers turned the Green Building, the tallest building in Cambridge, into a giant, playable, full color game of Tetris. The project was the result of almost five years of planning, according to MIT’s school newspaper.

A Dalek from the TV show “Dr Who” appeared on the Stata Center roof in MIT in April 2012.

In 2010, Cantabrigians noticed a strange sight atop an MIT building: A police call box reminiscent of the time machine used by science fiction hero Doctor Who.

In 2009, MIT students built an upside-down room at the Wiesner building on Ames Street in Cambridge, according to the Cambridge Chronicle. The students furnished the room with a pool table, framed painting, and leather seats.

The upside-down room even featured a (fake) cat.

An anonymous group of students scaled the Great Dome of the campus in 2009, and installed the first seven notes of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” The prank highlighted the resemblance of the dome’s horizontal lines to a blank piece of sheet music.

A half scale replica of the Apollo Lunar Module was placed on the Great Dome to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing in 2009.

MIT students placed a replica of an MBTA Red Line car on the Great Dome. The solar-powered installation rode around the entire circumference. 2009 was a busy year.

In 2007 MIT pranksters transformed a statue of John Harvard – the namesake of Cambridge’s other well-known university – into a video game character from “Halo 3.”

Somehow a fire truck appeared on the top of the Great Dome in 2006, one of the signature buildings on the campus. Putting things on top of the dome is a recurring theme for MIT pranks.

A Civil War-era cannon was moved from rival CalTech to the area outside MIT’s Green Building in 2006.

A replica of the first airplane appeared on the Great Dome to celebrate the 100th anniversary of controlled powered flight in 2003. The Wright Brothers’ plane replica included a dummy figure.

In 2001 a snowman appeared on top of the dome.

In 1999 the pranksters turned the dome into “Star Wars” character R2D2.

In 1994 a police car was put on top of the dome.

A speed limit sign geared toward an advanced audience appeared in 1985.

MIT made its mark on the 1982 Harvard-Yale football game by burying a weather balloon and then inflating it during the match. It exploded.

In 1979, a plastic cow from Hilltop Steakhouse was hoisted up to the top of the dome.

The 1972 piano launch from the roof of Baker House. The piano launch is now an annual event at MIT.

In the early 1970s, pranksters embraced their school’s reputation for braininess and customized a street sign.

Another street sign from the same time warned motorists they were entering MIT territory.

Pranksters celebrated Halloween in 1962 by turning the Great Dome into the Great Pumpkin.

This 1928 hack involved a cow on a dorm roof.

A car – most of it, anyway – was put on a dorm roof in 1926.