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The 10 best Google Easter eggs you need to try

These features can only be activated if you know the magic words.

 

Amy-Mae Turner

Tech

Posted on Jul 29, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 6:40 am CDT

True to Google‘s playful image, the search engine has a few fun tricks up its sleeve. There are various secret-sauce Easter eggs that can be activated if you know the right words or phrase to enter.

From time travel to retro games, these are the 10 best Google search Easter eggs that you can currently enjoy in 2015.

It’s worth noting some of these only work on Google.com, so be sure to head directly to that domain if you want to test them out.

1) Roll a die

Google can roll a die for you. Just type “roll a die” and you’ll get a randomly generated result, complete with a graphical depiction.

 

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2) Time travel back to 1998

You can go old school and see what Google search results looked like back in the year the company launched. Simply look up “Google in 1998.”

 

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3) Create a zerg rush

Generate an army of Google “o’s” to destroy with a mouse click by typing “zerg rush” into the search box. If you’re not quick enough, your search results will be annihilated.

 

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4) Anagram

Look up the word “anagram” and Google will give you an amusing “Did you mean?” suggestion. Well played, Google.

 

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5) Slant your screen

Typing either “askew” or “tilt” will give you appropriately wonky results.

 

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6) Atari Breakout

Doing an image search for “Atari Breakout” will invoke Google’s “Image Breakout” for some vintage-style gameplay.

 

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7) Hodor

Game of Thrones fans will enjoy this Easter egg. Enter “hodor” and you’ll see a generated sentence that looks like it would be spoken by the aphasia-afflicted character. Keep clicking to generate more.

 

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8) Blink HTML

If you type “<blink>” into Google, all instances of the word in the results will demonstrate just what it is the blink element does.

 

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9) Flip a coin

Got a decision to make? Feeling lucky? You can trust your fate to Google by getting the search engine to “flip a coin” for you.

 

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10) Do a barrel roll

Follow Peppy Hare’s invaluable advice and make your screen do a Star Fox-style barrel roll. Typing “z or r twice” (how you’d carry out the maneuver on the console game) has the same effect.

 

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Screengrab via Amy-Mae Turner

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*First Published: Jul 29, 2015, 9:00 am CDT