Google Text Adventure Will Help Kill Time At Work & Make You Look Busy

Just when you thought text-based games like Zork and Colossal Cave Adventure are obsolete, it turns out you were slightly wrong. Apparently, Google is still into old-school text adventures, and made one of their own hidden in the developer’s console.

A Reddit user discovered Google’s conspicuous game in its source code that anyone can play, whether through their own browser, Chrome, and even via Firefox and Edge. Safari, however, isn’t one of the browsers that supports the game.

To start the quest, type “text adventure” in Google Search, click right and toggle down to Inspect. Players will be directed to a source code where you can find the option “Console” nestled on the upper portion. You can also access this by using the button command “Control+Shift+J” (on Windows) or “Command+Option+J” (if you’re using a Mac) to be directly brought to the console.

The player’s “character” will be Google’s famed logo, specifically just the big blue letter G, and the task is to find the other missing letters. Players can navigate in the world by typing single-word prompts like “north”, “west”, “south”, among others, to enter different rooms. They can also find helpful tools that they can grab and use to complete the game.

The game’s setting is in what seems to be Google’s Mountain View buildings on Charleston Road, California, one Reddit user claimed.

“Probably the one who codes the Easter egg worked in that building,” the user added.

Google even made it a bit more nostalgic by flashing the classic question “Would you like to play a game?” in the beginning, just like how it was done in the olden days. Finding all the missing letters and finishing the game comes with no reward nor another Easter egg waiting to be discovered again.

At the end of the game, the user will just receive a congratulatory prompt and a slew of user stats, like the number of actions made and the length of time played. On the average, 30-45 minutes were spent by players in finding all the missing letters.

While Google is known to be a tough name in the tech industry, it still has a quirky and fun-loving image users get to love and enjoy. Google has been known to release Easter eggs, or hidden games and tricks, from time to time. Among their gimmicks were “do a barrel roll”, “zerg rush”, “askew”, “flip a coin” and plenty of others. Type them into the Google search bar to see what they are all about.