I would say that it's popularity was based on the multiplayer. It was one of the first FPS games that had four player split screen multiplayer. For console players, there was nothing like it at the time. For a lot of people it was a system seller. I had friends who hardly ever played the single player, I never finished it. I was a hardcore PC player, but I owned a N64 for Goldeneye and The Ocarina of Time.

Quoted for truth

I was paying 20$ a month to have access to a special BBS that tricked Doom into thinking it was on a LAN game. Meaning four player doom over the modem!

At some point I was able to upgrade to a DX4-100 and overclock it to 120mhz like a BAD ASS. A whopping 7mhz bus speed increase HAHA
By then I think I was moving towards playing more Quake and less doom?

Maybe our household wasn't normal but my three siblings and I would play this game properly. And, yes, when the first two players get to the final-loop part of the game it can take a few turns before someone lands on the cheese whilst the other player lands on the crank. But that gives the other players a chance to catch up. There are only six squares in that final-loop part of the game, so by the time three or four players get there you get to set off the trap quite often.

Part of the appeal was the fact that the trap wouldn't always work. Sometimes the ball would get stuck at the bottom of the rickety stairs, or the spring-loaded "helping hand" wouldn't fire when the ball hit it, or the man on the diving board would jump into the pool only for the cage to stubbornly sway at the top of the pole without dropping. If the trap fails to work then you gain a reprieve, the trap is reset, and the next player takes their turn.

So when you finally get to turn the crank to set off the trap there's a sense of anticipation with one player rooting for the trap to work and the other hoping that it jams up somewhere. And then there's all the oohs and aahs and cheers in reaction depending on who you're rooting for.

Great game, I loved it.

Why does he talk so creepily?
What's with that hole in the wall?
Why only two chairs? It's a four-player system.

What a horrible hand of poker. First the showing order was wrong, as noted above. Then, the dealer says, "heads up" after evil dude's 12M bet, even though there are four players still in the hand ("heads up" means only two players).

Then there's the ridiculous play of the black guy, supposedly a pro. He was dealt a middle pair holding 11 million, and he must have called 6 million before this clip started (a quarter of the 24M in the pot) instead of raising all-in. Big mistake. Then, he had 8-8-8 after the flop, and checked, allowing everyone to see a free card. Even a decent amateur would get all his money in the pot.

Watching real poker is so much more exciting. Search for "poker" and watch the ones with the most votes. They're truly awesome.