The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (2024)

Today, anyone with an internet connection has damn-near real-time access to nearly all of the world's information. That's a truly astonishing thing, especially for those of us who remember having to Dewey Decimal our way to information.

Still, it's easy to take for granted the modern-day magic that is a Google search, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary today. That's in large part because the team behind the tech is so good at what they do. They work tirelessly to ensure that Google never goes down, is available via all the screens in your life, and only ever improves its core mission.

But here's another thing about the Google dev team: They're huge gigantic nerds.

We know this by the trail of Easter eggs they leave behind. There are all sorts of little pranks hidden throughout the greater Google-verse. Nearly all of them are of the geek variety—there are many (occasionally super obscure) references to old video games, science fiction, and mathematics. You know: nerd stuff.

Check them out below. If we missed any, please drop a line in the comments, and we will award you some PCMag Points (which have no market value whatsoever) and add it to the list with due credit given.

Please note that there are plenty of search eggs that have been retired over time (e.g. searching weapons of mass destruction and clicking "I'm Feeling Lucky" used to return a bit of agitprop; or searching Let It Snow used to give a holiday surprise). Also, there are some search eggs specific to regional versions of Google. In this piece, we're only collecting active eggs currently available on Google.com. Let's jump in.

(This story was first published on July 2, 2015.)

1.Atari Breakout

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (1)

Searching Atari breakout and clicking "Images" will prompt an occasionally buggy game of Super Breakout made out of all the images of the game.

2.Super Mario Brothers

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (2)

Super Mario Brothers brings a special NES-y surprise. You know you were a 90s kid if one of the Super Mario Bros. sound effects automatically makes you feel all warm and cozy. And you can bring it up from any computer by searching "super Mario bros." Look in the side info card for a blinking question mark box; click it and you'll get some coins. Enjoy.

3.Sonic the Hedgehog

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (3)

Similarly, if you search sonic the hedgehog, you'll see a clickable little animation of Sonic in the info card to the right. Click on Sonic and he spins just like in the video games. But the "fun" doesn't stop there. If you click on him 25 times, he'll transform into Super Sonic! And then that's the end of that one. Enjoy!

4.Askew

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (4)

Searching Askew will tilt the screen. Searching anything else afterwards will bring everything back to the level.

5.Blink html

Blink html will cause the word "blink" to blink anywhere on the screen. Even in cases that have nothing to do with coding—like returns about Malcom Gladwell's 2005 collection of essays, Blink.

6.Festivus

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (5)

Festivus adds a Festivus pole to the left side of the screen. If you don't know what that means, then you are a young person who should read up on your TV heritage.

7.Do a Barrel Roll

Do a barrel roll or z or r twice will cause the screen to do a 360, which is probably a reference to Star Fox in which the player prompted a barrel roll by pressing z or r twice.

8.Google in 1998

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (6)

Google in 1998 will make the page appear as it did when Google took its visual design cues from Yahoo.

9.Zerg Rush

Zerg rush will cause a bunch of Google Os to attack the screen, which you can fight off by clicking on them. If you let it run through, eventually a group of red and yellow Os form a big "GG" in the middle of the screen.

If you are wondering what that term means, it's an online gaming term to describe an overwhelming attack of multiple entities from one player on another in real-time strategy games.

10.Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park will prompt an info card on the side of the page where the headline will appear as if it is being de-coded. Bletchley Park is the location of the UK's code-breaking center, which helped the Allies break Axis power codes in WWII.

11.Flip a Coin

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (7)

Flip a coin prompts a card with an animated coin flip. Related: roll a die prompts a card that randomly rolls a standard six-sided die.

12.Play Dreidel

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (8)

Search play dreidel and you'll be presented with an interactive little dreidel-spinning game. It's fun for a good 10 seconds.

Alternatively, searching spinner prompts a fidget spinner you can spin over and over. Toggle to "number" on the top right for a spinner that will land on a number between 1 and 6.

13.Recursion

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (9)

Recursion (definition: the repeated application of a recursive procedure or definition) prompts Google to ask "Did you mean: recursion" (i.e. the exact same word). When you click that word, it prompts the same follow-up question, repeating ad infinitum.

14.Conway's Game of Life

Conway's Game of Life prompts a seemingly random animation of blobs on the right-hand side of the screen. This "life simulation" was created by British mathematician John Conway in 1970. Technically, it's considered a "game" (in fact, a zero-player game), but it's just about the most boring game you'll ever "play."

15.Anagram

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (10)

Anagram will prompt a response asking "Did you mean: Nag A Ram." (Get it?) Related: Searching define anagram prompts the response asking "Did you mean: nerd fame again." (Sigh)

16.Beatles Easter Egg

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (11)

Entering the loneliest number prompts a calculator info card pre-filled with "1," which references The Beatles song "One is the Loneliest Number."

Also, searching once in a blue moon prompts "1.16699016 × 10−8 hertz." One of our readers, Phil Smith, pointed out that this equals about 2.7 years. And, as it turns out, 2.7 years is a pretty spot-on representation of "once in a blue moon." A blue moon is the term used to describe a second full moon in a single calendar month—and it happens once every two or three years. So, Phil gets 2,000 PCMag Points. Congrats!

17.Fun Facts

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (12)

Search fun facts or I'm feeling curious, and you'll get a "fun fact" card filled with a bit of trivia and the chance to get another random factoid.

18.Kerning

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (13)

The only thing better than a hidden Google Easter egg is a barely discernable Easter egg that is only meaningful to a very small group of people.

Before we get started with this one, know that the word "kerning" is a design term that refers to the space between individual characters. If you want to get into the typographical weeds, search kerning and scroll down to find that each time "kerning" appears in the search results, there's an ever-so-slight bit of extra space between the letters. Enjoy that, I guess?

19.I'm Feeling Lucky

Google has a host of Easter eggs hidden away that will only be triggered if you click "I'm Feeling Lucky" on the search page. I you search Google gravity, you'll see the Google homepage collapse to the bottom of the screen. Searching Google sphere will make the different elements of the search page to revolve around the Google logo—like a sphere.

Search epic Google, and the search page will continue to grow larger and larger. Search weenie Google, and the search page will start to shrink. Annoying Google will make the search page look pretty ugly. Google l33t will change the works on the page into leetspeak.

20.Google Pacman

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (14)

Google Pacman or Google Pac-Man will return a card that links to a pop-up screen of the 2010 Google Pac-Man Easter egg, which temporarily turned Google.com into a playable Pac-Man game. In the spirit of gender equality (maybe?), Google added a playable Ms. Pac-Man game inside Google Maps for April Fools' Day 2017.

21.Solitaire

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (15)

Need to waste more time? Google can help. Search solitaire or tic-tac-toe to prompt a pair of in-browser games. Goodbye, productivity. Now all Google needs is Minesweeper. Maybe Snake, too.

22.Is Google Down

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (16)

Search Is Google Down, and you'll feel just a bit sillier than you did a second earlier.

Get Our Best Stories!

Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.


Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Sign up for other newsletters

About Evan Dashevsky

Features Editor

The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (17)

Evan Dashevsky served as a features editor with PCMag and host of live interview series The Convo. He could usually be found listening to blisteringly loud noises on his headphones while exploring the nexus between tech, culture, and politics. Follow his thought sneezes over on the Twitter (@haldash) and slightly more in-depth diatribin' over on the Facebook.

Read Evan's full bio

Read the latest from Evan Dashevsky

  • 13 Creepy Sounds Recorded in Space by NASA
  • 7 Reasons to Actually Start Using Google Keep
  • 14 Striking Photos of Snow Under an Electron Microscope
  • Breathtaking Pics From Cassini's Journey to Saturn
  • How to Donate to Hurricane Harvey Victims
  • More from Evan Dashevsky
The Best Google Search Easter Eggs (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Sen. Emmett Berge

Last Updated:

Views: 5545

Rating: 5 / 5 (80 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Sen. Emmett Berge

Birthday: 1993-06-17

Address: 787 Elvis Divide, Port Brice, OH 24507-6802

Phone: +9779049645255

Job: Senior Healthcare Specialist

Hobby: Cycling, Model building, Kitesurfing, Origami, Lapidary, Dance, Basketball

Introduction: My name is Sen. Emmett Berge, I am a funny, vast, charming, courageous, enthusiastic, jolly, famous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.