I think you're giving the game designers too much credit here.
I think their game design brainstorming sessions probably sounded more like this:
"You know, I bet if we put buttons on that, people would pay to push them".
For proof, I submit
THIS.
1-screen + 2-coin slots + 4-buttons + 1-button addict = A commercial quiz game about COOKING?
Tell me someone actually sat around thinking about THIS one!
They had to have built the game as a joke, installed it somewhere, found out that there really WERE people dumb enough to spend money on it, and THEN submitted the idea to marketing.