Have You Played Google’s Hidden Text Adventure Game?
Google may be one of the world’s biggest brands, but it’s not above throwing out some surprises every now and again. As if to illustrate this, it has been discovered that the search giant has hidden an old-school text adventure game in its famous browser, and we’re going to show you how to access it, because we’re nice like that.
How To Play Google’s Secret Text Adventure Game
First up, make sure you’re on the main Google homepage. You don’t need to use Google’s Chrome browser for this – both Firefox and Edge also support it, but sadly hardcore Apple fans are out of luck as Safari refuses to play nice with the mystery game – you’ll have to use another browser, we’re afraid to say. Once you’re in a compatible browser and are looking at the Google homepage, type in “text adventure” as your search term.
Once the page of results appears, right-click anywhere on the screen and click “Inspect”. You should see a tab at the top of the screen which says “Console” – click this and you’ll be presented with a bunch of code as well as a note asking “Would you like to play a game?” Ominous, right? Wrong! It’s time to have some fun.
Of course, you’d like to go on an adventure, so type “Yes” next to the prompt to kick off your quest. The objective is to navigate the famous Google campus looking for the letters which make up the company’s name, but everything is in text form.
If you’re a youngster then you may not be aware that text adventures were a huge deal in the days when the average computer wasn’t capable of displaying detailed graphics; these games would instead use the power of the player’s imagination to set the scene via some snappy writing. To play Google’s adventure, you’ll need to use typed commands – such as directions or actions – to move around the world and interact with things.
So there you have it; a handy guide on how to access this fun little bonus game. Get ready to dive in and play one of the more unusual hidden secrets Google has come up with.
Damien McFerran
Damien McFerran has been covering phones and mobile technology for well over a decade. An Android specialist, as well as an expert reviewer of phones, Damien is one of the best technology journalists working today. He is also editorial director over at the excellent Nintendo Life.
