There’s a secret text adventure game hidden inside Google — here’s how to play it
Google loves a good Easter egg. There are dozens upon dozens of different eggs hidden across Google’s product portfolio, from using Google Search to flip a coin to exploring the Doctor’s TARDIS in Google Maps.
Think you’ve seen them all? A seemingly new egg has just been discovered: a playable text adventure game, hidden right within Google Search.
Here’s how to play it:
- Open Google.com in Chrome. (It might work in other browsers, but it was a bit glitchy when I tried it elsewhere.)
- Search for “text adventure” without the quotes.
- Open the JavaScript developer console by pushing Command+Option+J on a Mac, or Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows.
- You should see a prompt asking if you “Would like to play a game?” Type yes and push enter, and the game will start!
From here, you’ll be playing as the “big blue G” of the Google logo, searching for your fellow alphabetical pals one command at a time. Don’t expect to dump days into this one — it’s no Zork. But for a lil’ gag that managed to stay hidden for who-knows-how-long within one of the world’s most trafficked websites, it’s pretty neat.
(Shout out to redditor attempt_number_1 for being the first to spot this.)
