In the early 1970s, long before Madden NFL existed, Hawkins published his own tabletop football game, Accu-Stat Pro Football, using a $5,000 business loan from his parents. Frustrated by existing football board games that “hardly resembled real football,” he set out to make something authentic, the kind of game that could recreate real drives, real plays, and even Monday Night Football moments.

After founding Electronic Arts in 1982, Hawkins landed licensing deals with hoops legends Julius Erving and Larry Bird. Then, in 1984, he partnered with John Madden, whose voice and football acumen would define the next four decades of sports gaming. Madden wasn’t just a face on the box but also an in-game coach, announcer, and teacher. The now-iconic ASK MADDEN button offered playcalling advice, while his animated avatar punctuated games with signature gestures, catchphrases, and even Thanksgiving nods, including Madden’s beloved “Turducken,” which Hawkins says appeared in holiday commentary clips.

“We started including video clips of an animated John with a sound clip of his voice, where he’d use his signature gestures and terms. And [he] might mention a holiday because you were playing a season with a known schedule, and of course, Turducken,” Hawkins said.

Today, Madden leans into tournaments like EA’s Ultimate Thanksgiving Tournament, which in 2023 had a $260,000 prize pool with NFL stars, pro gamers, and fans squaring off for bragging rights and charity. For Hawkins, Madden’s success was never about a single day on the calendar. “Pro leagues must be confined to a season,” he said, “but video games have no such limitations.” Yet the connection between Madden, football, and Thanksgiving has become a ritual of its own, a modern version of those family card tables where everything began.

ARK: Survival Evolved (various platforms, 2017–present)

ARK: Survival Evolved is where Thanksgiving means chaos with claws. The annual Turkey Trial has historically run from late November through early December, flooding the game’s prehistoric islands with colossal mutant turkeys and the option to summon the fire-breathing DodoRex. Players carve their way to festive loot—ugly sweaters, turkey costumes, and enough cooked meat to shame an entire guild. It’s absurd and yet perfectly ARK, where Jurassic Park meets Food Network.

Disney’s Pocahontas (Game Boy/Genesis, 1996)

When Disney’s Pocahontas hit consoles in the mid-1990s, it arrived wrapped in the same glossy optimism as the animated film, including lush forests, gentle platforming, and a message about harmony with nature. Players guided Pocahontas and Meeko through puzzles that rewarded peaceful solutions over combat, a novelty at the time. But the game, like the movie, compresses painful history into gilded myth.

RuneScape (various platforms, 2001–present)

RuneScape practically invented the modern online seasonal event. Long before seasonal battle passes, an upstart British team was tossing pumpkins into a scrappy medieval MMORPG and watching its player base lose their minds. The first holiday event arrived on Halloween 2001, and the tradition is still going strong more than two decades later.