I remember reading an article about this technique - it was used in the original Starcraft. The idea here, is that the object needs to be allocated anyway by someone else, so you get the linked list for free.

An object can also be part of multiple lists, each used by a different subsystem with its own concerns.

Deleting an item involves unlinking it from all lists (though that requires a doubly-linked list)

Edit: found the article

https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-...