Google engineers get bored at work just like the rest of us. As a result, they’ve hidden dozens of gags, Easter eggs, and Pokémon all over Google’s sprawl of websites over the years. And that includes plenty of video games you can play in your browser, no controller required.
Chrome’s Offline T-Rex Infinite Runner
If you use Chrome as a browser, and you can’t find the Internet, you’re likely familiar with the sad little T. Rex standing in the desert that appears with the “No Internet Connection” warning. And you’ve probably got some time to kill. Google, fully aware of this, has a little mini-game you can play while you’re waiting. Hit the space bar and the T-rex runs across the screen, and you either jump with space or duck with the down arrow to avoid the obstacles. Sure, it’s not goofing off on the Internet at work, but it gives you something to do waiting for IT to figure out what went wrong this week.
Google Earth’s Flight Simulator
Flight simulators were, for a long time, one of the most beloved kinds of PC games. Carefully designed to mirror the operation and flight of airplanes in every detail, they were fairly close to professional tools. They’ve been eclipsed by other games, over time, but they’ve still got a hardcore fanbase with some Google engineers among them. For this one, you’ll need to install Google Earth, their free virtual globe. Once you’ve got it set up, just click on the tools menu, and you’ll find Flight Simulator. It’s surprisingly fully featured with two planes, a number of airports to take off from, and will even support flight joysticks. It’s not quite Microsoft Flight Simulator, but it’s still a surprising amount of fun.
Google Images Breakout
Breakout is, of course, the classic Atari game where you control a paddle and bounce a ball off a line of bricks. It’s one of the classic Atari games, as iconic as Pitfall or Centipede. If you’re in the mood to bust some bricks, all you have to do is go to Google Images and search for “Atari breakout.” Once the page loads, it’ll turn the results into a game of Breakout, complete with your mouse controlling the paddle. You’ve got four lives to clear the bricks, and you can restore the normal image search page when you’re done. You know, a few hours from now.
The Pac-Man Google Doodle
Google’s obsession with Pac-Man is well documented, and when their Google Doodle that happened to be a fully playable version of the game hit the Internet a few years ago, millions of hours of productivity were lost. And the good news is, it didn’t go away: Google has the doodle archived, and it remains fully playable. As for defeating the ghosts, that we can’t help you with.
Conway’s Game Of Life
Finally, if you’re in the mood for a little zen, you can boot up Google’s zero-player game. Conway’s Game Of Life is really a demonstration of a complex computing problem that mathematician John Conway simplified down to just a handful of rules. But from those rules can unfold staggering chaos and surprising stability in equal measure, and by searching for it in Google, you’ll see it begin to play a game. You can watch it play out for as long as you’d like.
Or if you prefer destruction to giving life, Google “zerg rush.” In a nod to the classic game StarCraft, you can watch Google’s “units” destroy your search results. Then after that you can get to work; those ghosts aren’t going to eat themselves, after all.