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If you were looking for an excuse to delay productivity, an adventure game found hidden inside Google Search can easily take up at least a few hours of your Monday morning.
Thanks to a Reddit user who posted on the r/google thread, we now know about a secret game hidden inside Google’s code. Upon entering the game, the user is sent on a wild goose chase to hunt down the colorful letters that make up the Google logo. The game is a text adventure, meaning you only have to type in simple words and commands to navigate through it.
Google has become well known for its number of tricks and surprises hidden within the confines of its search engine. There’s an entire Internet community out there devoted to discovering these “Easter eggs,” and an extensive list of them can be found on this Wikipedia page.
Here’s how you can access the game yourself:
Next, right-click on the page and select the “Inspect” option.
The game can be found through the web browser’s developer console. This is can be accessed one of two ways: right-click on the page and select the “Inspect” option, or use your keyboard for the shortcut option (Command + Option + I on your Mac or Command + Shift + I on your PC).
The game will work best on Chrome, Google’s internet browser.
Toggle over to “console,” and this prompt will appear. Type in “yes,” obviously.
Opening up the Inspect feature will access the browser’s developer mode, which may look a bit confusing at first with lines of code and developer jargon. However, you don’t have to worry about all that — it’s not a part of the game.
Locate the “Console” tab, where you’ll find a prompt that asks (somewhat reminiscent of the “Saw” films) if you want to play a game.
Enter “yes,” because you haven’t gotten this far to not play the game.
Directions for the game will appear, and you’ll enter into an adventure where you’re hunting for the rest of the letters in “Google.”
By typing “yes,” you’ll then enter into Google’s adventure game. You’ll get a brief introduction into the game’s storyline, which directs you to locate the rest of the letters in “Google” (you represent the letter “G”). The letters are located throughout the company’s campus in California.
Use the available single word commands to navigate the Google campus and find the missing letters.
The game will only understand single word commands, which can be found in the initial instructions. In response to prompts that pop up, you can enter commands that direct the game to access certain features (“inventory,” “map,” “friends”), complete certain actions (“grab,” “use,” “help”), and move certain directions (“up,” down,” “north,” “east,” etc).
Along the way, you’ll pass employees playing volleyball, encounter an alligator blocking a door, and deal with frustrated Google engineers trying to fix bugs.
We have yet to complete the game, but let us know how long it takes you to get through the hunt, or any other cool features you find along the way.
