Bank of Canada gets nerdy to celebrate anniversary

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[April 11, 2017]    OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada may not be known for its humor but it marked the nation's 150th anniversary with a bit of whimsy, embedding a computer code in its website that lets users unlock a digital celebration.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz arrives at a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Though Governor Stephen Poloz unveiled a commemorative C$10 banknote at a live ceremony last week, the central bank's Web team had a nerdier take on the event.

The team programmed the Konami code, a sequence of keystrokes used by gamers, onto a bank webpage announcing the banknote. Enter the code on the page and your screen is showered with tiny C$10 bills as a tinny rendition of Canada's national anthem plays.

"The response so far has been exceptional," the bank's spokewoman Josianne Menard said in an email.

The webpage http://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/banknote150/ allows users to inspect the purple banknote front and back, but it is the entry of Konami code keystrokes - up up down down left right left right b a - that brings the announcement to life.

The code was first used in early generation computer games to allow players to cheat and unlock special in-game features.

(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Jim Finkle and Andrew Hay)

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