Whether you grew up using Sonic’s spin to imperviously pass through levels, Mario’s green cap to blast through enemies, or Tony Hawk’s moon gravity to throw down million-point tricks, all games have one thing in common: They’ve all been designed to tap constantly tap into our biological craving for pleasure. Just think about how awesome it is when you’ve finally beat that last Bowser, or gotten through an incredibly tough mission on “Call of Duty.”

Now that you’ve recalled all that whooping, fist pumping, and dancing, and the feel-good emotions that came with them, let’s get deeper into the neuroscience of winning. As it turns out, these games are designed to make us “win” in increments from beginning to end. It’s easy to see how this is possible when you consider how many times you try to get through a level before it actually happens. But on a deeper level, every time you acquire enough coins to get a new life, beat a large group of enemies, or find yourself in first place — just to be demolished by a spiked, blue shell (”Mario Kart”) — your brain is firing off feel-good neurotransmitters.

Dopamine is among these neurotransmitters. Each time you grab some more coins in “Mario,” for example, and you’re rewarded with another life, that dopamine is firing off in your brain. This causes a “rush of pleasure,” the guys at PBS’ Game/Show say. But as that chemical signal wears away, you crave another one. While most games do a good job of getting that next rush to you, some game developers have made it their goal to keep it constant. To hear more about that, however, you’re going to have to watch the video.