Google has implemented many Easter eggs within their search engine over the years, some of which can still be accessed today. Here are the ones that are great at making those slow office hours move a little faster. By Liu Hongzuo.
Google has implemented many Easter eggs within their search engine over the years, some of which can still be accessed today. Here are the ones that are great at making those slow office hours move a little faster. By Liu Hongzuo.
If you work in an office that bans almost every social media website, e-shop, and just about anything non-productive, you’d find yourself taking breaks on your smartphone. However, there are only so many times you can peek at your mobile device before your supervisors start to notice. Google knows that, and they’ve implemented useful little games and things to do in their search bar to help bored office workers along their week. Shh, don’t tell your boss.
SOLITAIRE
By typing “Solitaire” without the quotation marks in the Google search bar, you can pull up a fully functional game of Solitaire. Google offers two modes of difficulty – the easier one would turn over one card every time you reach for the draw pile, and the harder version reveals three at once. Before you know it, an hour or two would’ve went by when you finally get your first win – assuming you’re out of touch.
PAC-MAN
Searching for the classic arcade game will bring up a Google doodle from 2010. Clicking on it will start a game of Pac-Man for you, with a slight twist. Instead of the traditional layout, the center of the labyrinth is fashioned using the Google logo. All the usual rules apply – clear the dots, avoid the ghosts, and get the highest possible score without getting fired from your job.
FLIP A COIN / ROLL A DIE
While it’s less of a game, the coin flip and dice roll abilities of Google search can be very helpful at guiding a bored co-worker on what they should get for dinner, or if they should switch insurance agents and coverage plans. By typing “Flip a coin” or “Roll a die” without the quotation marks, Google will present a coin or a six-sided die at the top of their respective search results. Clicking on “Flip it” or “Roll it” prompts the page to give you another possible outcome.
TIC-TAC-TOE
Type “Tic-Tac-Toe” without quotation marks into the Google search bar for a game of, well, Tic-Tac-Toe. It has three difficulty settings with the option to play with a friend (on the same computer). At the Impossible difficulty, the opponent AI plays a perfect game. If the player is also mechanically perfect (which isn’t hard to achieve), it’s possible to see a tie. While simpler, the ability to play it with your desk buddy on the down-low makes it even more exciting.
ZERG RUSH
This little game pays homage to an extremely annoying strategy used in a Blizzard game called StarCraft. A player has the option to manufacture many cheap and fast-moving insect troops before their opponents accumulate sufficient resources to strike back. The clone here requires you to fend off the Google logo’s red and yellowcolored O’s from attacking and destroying your search results. The Os will arrange themselves into a “GG” when it ends.
