Carmen Sandiego began in the 1985 computer game Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, created to make geography fun through detective cases. The red-coated thief became the face of bestselling games, a PBS game show in the early 1990s, animated series, and a Netflix reboot in 2019. Online the name alone signals a worldwide chase, so short clips are shared as a shorthand for tracking someone elusive across countries, solving clues, and playful educational nostalgia.