Google Tricks: The definitive list of Google Easter Eggs

Google empowers us with the greatest search engine for browsing the world wide web, most popularized operating system for mobile (Android), an outstanding email service with 15-gigabytes of free storage, and much more. The vast majority of Google Services offered to us are taken for granted.

We take a lot of the technology giant and offer little in return. But that doesn’t anger the company, their engineers work to maintain and improve the available services (or add new) but also design the available services in a nerdy way. Yes, Google is full of cheeky nerds.

Google services are equipped with hidden messages, jokes, and games that only enterprising searches can find. All these features makeup Google’s spirit of the Easter holiday and are often named as Google Easter eggs. The Google Gravity tricks are part of the greater easter eggs.

The list of Google tricks is large, and they can be accessed through Google Homepage, Google searches, Google Maps and Google Earth, YouTube, Android, and Chromecast. Here I will try to list every functioning Google Easter Egg and explain how everyone can access them.

Google Games

The Easter Eggs are not only about hiding secret messages and jokes, but they also consist of hidden fun games. These are the games you can play on Google.

Google Dinosaur Game (T-Rex)

This is the most famous and widely used game by Google. It activates on Chrome whenever the browser is used offline. The game is created by Sebastian Gabriel and named Chrome Lonely T-Rex.

Playing this “No Internet game” may take off the frustration of being unable to connect and may save you from an uncomfortable conversation with your ISP.

You can play the T-rex Runner by tapping on the screen when using a smartphone or by pressing Space or arrow buttons on desktop. When a player reaches 700 points, the game background turns to night and at the next same milestone returns to day. This game is endless and can never be finished. But it still offers something to be busy with while your network attempts to fix its self.

Atari Breakout

Searching on Google for “Atari Breakout” and going to the Images section will automatically start a Breakout game that uses generated images as bricks. Mouse controls the game, and the speed increases during playtime. When the game ends, an automated image search is applied, and the game starts again.

The Google Atari Breakout cannot be accessed via the “I’m feeling lucky” feature. A pause and volume buttons stand just above the game, and you can as well share your records on the social media.

World of Solitaire

Google takes you to the world of Solitaire by allowing you to play it with a simple search. If you search “Solitaire” or “Play Solitaire,” under the results an image of the game will be displayed with a clickable “Click to Play” button to start it.

You can select among Easy and Hard levels. To play it, just click on the cards. You don’t have to drag cards to their place. One click will automatically position the card at its place. A deck is available to ask for new cards and as well as a timer and a moves counter.

Tic Tac Toe

This probably is a classic, simple game everyone has plaid once. The paper-and-pencil Tic-Tac-Toe comes from the Ancient Egypt and has managed to get its self on modern computer devices.

Two players choose among X and O to mark fields on a 3×3 grid. The one that achieves on placing three marks of the same symbol in parallel, vertical or a diagonal row wins the game. According to studies on this game, there are 138 board combinations if we assume that X always makes the first move. Out of these, the X player wins 91 times, the O player wins 44 times, and three times the game ends in a draw. When the Tic Tac Toe game ends in a draw, it is called Cat’s Game.

Here’s an illustrator that shows how the X player will always win if follows these instructions.

Google Pac-Man

On the top of search results for “Pacman,” “Pac-Man,” or “Play Pacman” will appear the playable Pac-Man game of the 8-bit past. Check out how to play Google Pacman and all of its challenges.

Google Zerg Rush

On this Google game, your mission is to prevent the Google O’s from destroying content on the results page when “Zerg Rush” is the search query. Take a look here to know everything about Zerg Rush game.

Snake Game

Another famous game Google couldn’t miss but include on its list of hidden games is the Snake. If you miss this game that once upon a time was all over Nokia phones, play it by searching on Google “Snake game” or “Play Snake Game.” This link will explain you everything about this game.

Fidget Spinner Game

Fidget Spinner became the most trending topic for 2017 (beside’s Trump’s Wall and North Korea’s numerous nuclear tests). It was supposed to be a simple gadget for releasing accumulated stress by spinning a fidget on your fingertips. But its popularity escalated so fast that people began worrying if it really is something everyone should try.

Nevertheless, Google made its own version of Fidget Spinner game. You can access this game by typing in the search bar “Spinner,” “Fidget Spinner,” or “Play Fidget Spinner” followed by a hit on the Search button. To make the fidget spin faster, click on the Spin button beneath the embedded game.

Besides spinning a fidget, you can pass on the Wheel mode by switching the mark on Number. The wheel size can be changed to up to 20 numbers.

Dreidel

Dreidel is an ancient Jewish game, now widely played during the Jewish Hanukkah Holiday. Google loves holidays and Dreidel had no chance of not find a place on the Google Easter Eggs list.

History of Dreidel

The Jewish community tells the origin of Dreidel based on a legend dating back to the Maccabean revolt. During this time, the Jewish children were forbidden of studying Torah by the Hellenic authorities. They would defy this rule and study it anyway. When a Greek soldier approached close, they would hide the book and reveal their spinning tops to trick the soldiers into believing they were playing games.

How to play Dreidel

The letters on four sides of the Dreidel spinning top are made of the first letters of a Hebrew phrase meaning “A great miracle happened here.” To play Dreidel, each player starts with an equal number of game pieces, and they can be coins, candies, or anything else. Participating players take turns to spin the dreidel. When its top lands on Nun, the player gets nothing, when it lands on Gimel player takes everything in the pot, when is He or Hey, the spinning player takes half of the content on the pot and when is Shin the player must add something into the pot.

Roll a die

If you are playing a board game and it requires to roll a dice, you won’t have to buy one at the nearest store. Google has you back in that. By searching “Roll a die” or “Roll die” a six-sided dice will appear and roll once you click the Roll it button.

Flip a coin

This Google Easter Egg and game is handy if you need to choose between two alternatives. Search for “Flip a coin,” or “Heads or tails” to experience it yourself. Coin tossing is a practical and popular way to give solution for easy problems, and it is practiced during each football game for a fair choosing of sides of the field by two teams.

Google Search Easter Eggs

Although all of the above-listed Google games can be found via a Google search, I decided to line them up in the games category. But that’s not all Google search can do for your entertainment. Here are some more hidden tricks on the search engine.

3D Easter Egg equation

Google Easter Eggs are not only hidden features behind Google services. A Google Eastern Egg has the shape of an egg. If you search in Google this equation, 1.2+(sqrt(1-(sqrt(x^2+y^2))^2) + 1 – x^2-y^2) * (sin (10000 * (x*3+y/5+7))+1/4) from -1.6 to 1.6, an animated egg-shaped graphics will appear, and you can see it rotating by default or have a view from every angle by moving it using your mouse. Visit this link for a direct access.

Anagram

An anagram is a wordplay where the letters of a word or phrase are rearranged to produce a new word or phrase. If you search in Google for Anagram, the search result will be “Did you mean: nag a ram.” Suggesting you an anagram of the word anagram. Something similar happens when you search for “Define anagram,” the shown anagram of this phrase is “nerd fame again.”

Conway’s Game of Life

The Conway’s game of life isn’t actually a real game. It is a zero-player-game, and a player’s participation in the gameplay is not a must. It can be seen as a way of understanding the evolution and reproduction of simple cells. However, players may add cells to the game and watch how their reproduction or decrease in numbers creates various of patterns.

Its maker, the mathematician John Horton Conway, added four major rules to the game:

1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies as if caused by underpopulation.
2. Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.
3. Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

These rules are specially designed for the game to follow these three criteria:

1. here should be no explosive growth.
2. There should exist small initial patterns with chaotic, unpredictable outcomes.
3. There should be potential for von Neumann universal constructors.
4. The rules should be as simple as possible, whilst adhering to the above constraints.

Google in 1998

This easter egg is dedicated to the Google history. If you search in Google for “Google in 1998”, the results page will be from the early designs of the site. It will take you back in time when Google was more a replica of Yahoo and had much of its outlook copied from that of Yahoo.

Is Google down

The search giant won’t allow anyone to speculate over its online availability. If you Google for the search query “Is Google down?”, And automated result located just below the results will say No. Google is never down and prides its self with that.

Blink HTML

Another funny way to play with Google is by making it wink at you. Results for “Blink html,” and “<blink>” includes samples of blink elements. If you happen to have a website or a blog of yours, here’s how you can implement this feature on your own page.

Bletchley Park

During the WWII, Bletchley Park was the central site for the British intelligence where codebreakers unveiled secret communications of Axis powers. It is estimated that the cracked information from work done at the Bletchley Park shortened the war by two or four years.

When searching in Google for Bletchley Park, the knowledge graph starts a decoding that ends with Bletchley Park. This is Google’s way to memorize all the hard work British Intelligence had to undertake to stop the Nazi regime decades ago.

Z or r twice

This is the Google do a barrel roll trick. If you search for Z or r Twice, it will make the results page do a barrel roll twice.

Askew

The results page for keyword “Askew” makes Google tilt. But besides that nothing happens. If you change the search query or click on any of the search results sites, everything returns back to normal. However, if you continue to browse deeper, all pages will appear tilted.

Marquee HTML

Searching in Google for “Marque HTML” or <marque> will make the marque elements (in this case the number of results and loading speed) spin.

Webdriver torso

The Webdriver Torso was a secret YouTube channel created by Google to test if YouTube uploads slow or lose quality. It was firstly reported as an account used for espionage until Google publicly accepted its affiliation with the YouTube channel.

You can take a look at this channel, it has uploaded exactly 624,735 videos, with the last one added on May 4, 2017. Now, when you use “webdriver torso” as a search query on Google, the Google logo will turn into a webdriver torso video. It is reported that this will not work when there is a Google Doodle on that day or on mobile devices.

Wubba lubba dub dub

It appears that Google is another fan of Rick and Morty sitcom. If you Google Rick’s catchphrase “Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub,” the results page will be “Did you mean: I Am in great pain, please help me.” That’s because, in the series, Birdperson explains the meaning of this catchphrase to Morty that it in his language it means “I am in great pain, please help me.”

What sound does a dog make

Something fascinating Google can do for you is to tell you the sounds that your favorite animals make. If you search for “What sound does a dog make,” at the top of search results will be a table of animated animals with the animal you searched for siding at the top and at its left there’s a playable recording of the sound that particular animal makes.

Draw a heart with Google equation

One of the sweetest things you can do with Google is to make its embedded calculator graph tool to draw a heart for you. The graphics for this mathematical equation creates a heart in the Google search results. Try it yourself by clicking here or by pasting this equation in the search bar: sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

Sending a direct link to this Google heart to your loved ones will certainly become a lovely surprise to them. Try it out.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything

Did you know that Google has the answer for the ultimate question? Apparently, the answer to life, the universe, and everything consists of only one number, and that number is 42.

The number 42 is a unique number, and every mathematician would fall in love with it. But let’s not make other numbers jealous though, the number 33 is also unique, it made Dante Aligeri crazy for it. But the main question here is, why 42 is an unusual number? And why it is the answer for everything?

Firstly, light refracts off the water by 42 degrees to create a rainbow. A journey through the earth’s core to the other side (made via a hollow tube and in the vacuum, with no friction taken into account) takes exactly 42 minutes. Mars orbits the sun 42 times in a 79-year period. The binary code of 42 is 101010.

There are many more surprising results about number 42. But, the reason why Google displays it as the answer for everything is none of them. Google tells that result as a joke.

Festivus

Festivus is a parody and a form of rebellion against commercialism during the Christmas holidays. And although Google is the largest company to stand on a commercial advertisement, it still respects those that hate the pressure commercialism puts during Christmas holidays. The search result for “Festivus” features a Festivus pole on the left side of the screen.

If you search in google for “Random number generator,” or simply “rng” it will automatically generate a number between 1 and 10. But if you change the maximum number to above 9,999,999,999 or the minimum number to below -9,999,999,999 the result will be a dizzy face emoji.

recursion

Recursion occurs when a thing is defined regarding itself or of its type. If you search in Google for “recursion,” the search result will ask you, Did you mean: recursion. If you click on it, the same thing will repeat. Recursion is defined only by recursion.

Baker’s dozen

A dozen is a group of twelve. But a baker’s dozen or a devil’s dozen is one more than a standard measure. Google will respond with 13 when the search query is “a baker’s dozen,” or “baker’s dozen.”

The number of horns on a unicorn

Google is the greatest search engine because it has a response for any question you can have. It will even tell you the number of horns on a unicorn. When “the number of horns on a unicorn” is the search query, Google calculator will display 1 at the top of search results. The same thing happens if you ask what is the loneliest number. If you try to combinate them, like in the form of “The number of horns on a unicorn plus the answer to life the universe and everything” will result in 43. You can do various combinations of this kind.

Once in a blue moon

Sonic the Hedgehog

Google is a big fan of Sonic just like everyone else who played the video game series. If you search “Sonic the Hedgehog” or “Green hill zone,” an awaiting sonic will appear on the knowledge graph. If you click on the character, it will make a jump, and if clicked 25 times in a row, transforms into Super Sonic.

Super Mario Bros

A similar effect to that of Sonic happens when you search in Google for “Super Mario Bros” or “Super Mario.” This time, on the knowledge graph, appears flashing block that generates 200 coins when clicked and has the Super Mario coin sound effect.

Google Earth Easter Eggs

Google Easter Eggs are available all over Google products. The Google Earth tricks will even let you speak to a Martian called Meliza.

Chat with Meliza

Did you know that you can speak to a Martian through Google Earth’s Mars interface? Once you have downloaded the latest version of Google Earth and clicked the icon that looks like Saturn to switch on Mars mode. There, search for “Meliza” and click on it. It will trigger an automated chat client to open a talk box from where you can speak to Meliza.

Google Earth Flight Simulator

Did you know that you don’t have to be a pilot to fly an aircraft? At least being a pilot is not necessary when flying the world on Google Earth. You’re not flying any kind of aircraft, but the Cirrus SR22 or General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon to take you to any place of the planet.

To take on a Google flight, find Tools from the Menu and click on Enter Flight Simulator. A shortcut is applicable for Windows and Mac, respectively Ctrl + Alt + a and ⌘+ Option + a.

The Google Earth flight simulator controls are not much complicated, and they’re in fact easy to master. To start a flight, select your favorite aircraft and choose Current View to start it from wherever you are currently viewing or from one of the available airports. You can fly on Google using a joystick or your keyboard and mouse. I doubt anyone needs a tutorial on how to use a joystick, so, let’s deal with mouse and keyboard controls which are a bit more complicated.

If you’re starting a flight from an airport, press the Page Up key to increase thrust, once the plane starts moving, position or mouse downwards and wait until it takes off. You should use the same key to maintain your plane at air if you didn’t choose to take off from an airport. Otherwise, it will crash down. Use the mouse to change directions or arrow buttons, siding your mouse works best, using the arrows gives it instant direction changes, and you may lose control quickly. Use Alt + arrow keys to turn slowly or Ctrl + arrow keys to turn fast.

Enjoy flying all over the world with Google.

Google Maps Easter Eggs

Google maps have a decent number of easter eggs and other tricks that are fun to play with. Here’s the full list of them.

Police Telephone Box

This Google Map’s trick will send you inside the Tardis from Doctor Who if you search for “Police Telephone Box,” or “Earls Court Police Box.” Search any of these two queries and switch on Street view mode. Sometimes just by tapping or clicking the street view the inside of the Tardis will appear, other times, you have to tap on the box to enter inside. From inside, you have a 36-degree view, and it is really quite big.

Loch Ness Monster

When you search Loch Ness lake in the Scottish Highlands, the Google Pegman is a green lizard that looks like the Loch Ness Monster. Is an entertaining way to travel around Urquhart Castle and guide your greenish monster.

If you try to get Google Maps directions from Fort Augustus to Urquhart Castle in Google Maps, the fastest route to take is by Loch Ness Monster, it takes only 24 minutes to arrive, four minutes faster than by car. Check it out yourself by visiting this link.

Royal Carriage

Another interesting way you can travel through the United Kingdom is via Royal Carriage. If you want to go from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, Google Maps will tell you that via a royal carriage the trip lasts only one hour and 16 minutes. View it yourself here.

But that’s not all. From Snowdon to the Brecon Beacons you can travel by dragon. You can punt around Cambridge or Oxford for 45 minutes.

Android Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs by Google are not that easy to find. Probably you didn’t know that your Android Nougat-powered smartphone hides a secret game. Or that your Google Assistant can turn on and off your flashlight.

Neko Atsume

Android Nougat phones come with a secret Neko Atsume game that is hidden within the operating system. Google choose to call it Android Neko. But still, this game based on the Android OS will not substitute your favorite cat’s game. You’ll only be taking care of your cats whenever they come to you.

To activate and play Android Neko Atsume on your phone follow these instructions:

1. Open Settings app on your phone.
2. Scroll down to “About Phone,” and find your “Android Version.” It should say 7.0. Tap on it multiple times until a big N is shown (like on the screenshot above).
3. Tap on the “N” five times then hold it until your phone vibrates (unless you have it in silent mode). You’ll then see a tiny cat which will fade away. In case you miss it and at the second time appears a “NO” emoji, don’t worry. It just tells you that you deactivated the Android Neko Atsume Easter egg. Repeat the same thing again until you see the cat emoji.
4. Pull down the notifications shade, and you should see an “Edit” feature on the lower right side of the window. Tap on it.
5. Now you must see a cat emoji that has a caption of  “???? Android Easter Egg”. Long-press it and drag to your Quick Settings area.
6. On your Quick Settings, you’ll be seeing an empty plate with “Empty dish” caption.
7. Tap the Empty dish feature and choose from Bits, Fish, Chicken, or Treat. Whatever you want to pick will do the work.

After activating the game, you should wait for notifications to arrive on your phone telling you that “A cat has arrived” along with its cat number. The arriving cats will be added to your cat collection, and you will be taking care of them. If your phone is paired with an Android Wear device, notifications over cat’s arrivals will make it vibrate.

Konami Code on Google Allo

The Konami Cheat Code to activate special effects when playing Konami video games has now been popularized outside the Japanese entertainment company. It has arrived on Android devices as well. If you message your Google Assistant from Google Allo with “up up down down left right left right b a start” it will return to you funny messages. Most popular are “you’ve unlocked cheat mode!”, “That looks like the Konami Code I wonder if it’ll turn me into a squirrel,” “You destroyed the vile Red Falcon and saved the universe Consider yourself a hero,” “Cheat mode enabled,” and “The Konami Code I know it well.”

Konami Code on Google Play Games

If you open the Google Play Games app and swipe with your finger “up up down down left right left right,” a box will appear for you to finish the code. You should tap the B, A, and Start. Automatically after that, a notification telling you “All your game belong to us” will appear. The famous meme from the European version of Sega Mega Drive game Zero Wing which was poorly translated into English.

Google MyGlass dog in pajamas

If you visit the Google MyGlass app on Play Store, it will tell you that even if you don’t have a glass, this app is not a waste of time. Because if you scroll to your right, a dog in pajamas will appear in a screenshot. And there really is a dog in pajamas, see it over here.

YouTube Easter Eggs

Google has added numerous tricks to YouTube, but unfortunately, most of them are no longer available. Here are those that still are waiting for everyone to try.

Why do YouTube views freeze at 301?

The Numberphile YouTuber uploaded a video in 2012 titled “Why do YouTube views freeze at 301?” It was dedicated to the YouTube’s glitch of freezing the view counter at 301+ once this number is reached. Since 2015, Google decided not to freeze the view counter. However, Numberphile’s video remains to show as 301 views while 170,000 people have liked it. See this unusual video here.

Youtube’s Robots.txt file

This is what Youtube’s robots.txt file has:

# robots.txt file for YouTube
# Created in the distant future (the year 2000) after
# the robotic uprising of the mid 90’s which wiped out all humans.

Are we living in a matrix?

Google Interfaces

Maybe you didn’t know, but Google has a good number of interfaces based on fictional languages. Here is the full list of these funny Google sites.

Google Pirate

Google has its own Jack Sparrow spirit just like everyone else. This interface is based on the fictional English Pirate language, Google Search becomes “Google Searrrch,” the “I’m Feeling Lucky” will read “I Be Feelin’ Lucky” and Settings are “Me Likes an’ Dislikes.” This search engione is completely functional. The results page has differently named elements, searching for images becomes searching for Engravin’s. Check it out by clicking here.

Google Hacker

Although Google may not be a company that encourages hacking, they do have a hacker interface that turns traditional Google buttons and elements into random letters, numbers, and symbols. Feel hacker by visiting the Google Hacker site.

Google Klingon

The Klingon warriors from Star Trek have their own dedicated version to browse the Internet. If you understand Klingon language or you’re a Klingon stuck here on Earth, browse the web in your mother tongue by visiting the Klingon Google version.

Google Bork (Bork Bork Bork)

The Bork! Bork! Bork! is another fictional language originating from The Muppet Show and used in the Guild Wars game. Have a Bork Google search over here.

Google Pig Latin

Google has a special interface where everything is based on an Argot language called Pig Latin. Start “I’mway Eelingfay Uckylay” with Google Pig Latin by checking the particular interface here.

Google Elmer Fudd

Another fictional language adapted into a Google interface is the Elmer Fudd’s language from the Looney Tunes. Have a “Google Seawch” and begin “Feewing Wucky” with Elmer J. Fudd Google.

I’m Feeling Lucky

The Google I’m Feeling Lucky button is one of the most iconic and fun features of the search giant. It can be used to directly access some of Google Search tricks and to perform some pre-loaded features which we’ll mention right below. But one way you can use the I’m Feeling Lucky is to have it send you to the first result of the search results page for any keyword you’re typing. If you type CNN followed by a click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, it will instantly open edition.cnn.com website. You use this for any kind of search.

• I’m Feeling Wonderful: Clicking this button activates Google Arts & Culture project and shows you a random World Wonder site. It is a handy feature to expand your cultural knowledge.
• I’m Feeling Trendy: This feature instantly sends you to the Google Trends website where you can see everything that’s rocking right now.
• I’m Feeling Stellar: Picking this feature opens a Google Earth page dedicated to the Hubble Telescope where you’ll be introduced to its achievements on behalf of science and have a view of our Milky Way galaxy.
• I’m Feeling Puzzled: Clicking on this will send you to “A Google A Day” homepage where you will be asked questions from various of categories. There are a timer and a hint to give you a push in case you get stuck.
• I’m Feeling Playful: This Google shortcut automatically sends you to a random interactive Google Doodle.
• I’m Feeling Hungry: Clicking this triggers a Google search for “restaurants.” You’ll not be feeling hungry for long.
• I’m Feeling Generous: This button is dedicated Google One Today non-profit project for helping the poor and those in need. You’ll have a chance of yours to make the world a better place by offering your contribution.
• I’m Feeling Doodley: Hitting this button will instantly display a random Google Doodle.
• I’m Feeling Curious: Differently from feeling puzzled, the Google I’m Feeling Curious will perform a search for “I’m feeling curious, ” and you will be introduced to questions that have their answer generated from other websites indexed in Google. Clicking on “Ask another question” button will change the question.
• I’m Feeling Artistic: This feature also redirects you to the Google Arts & Culture but this time you are shown art-related contents.