Google Easter Eggs - Text Adventure

 We play many 3D games today. Take Minecraft for example. It catches it's player's attention with it's amazing graphics and endless gameplay. However, just like man didn't have tube lights from the very beginning, these graphics weren't there in the earlier computers. Earlier computers used a text based interface to communicate with the user, and that was also used to play games. Just like Minecraft has Easter Eggs, even text-based games had them. Here, however, we will introduce you to a text-based game that is an Easter Egg in itself!

What is it?

This Easter Egg falls into the category of games that are called Interactive Fiction. These games take this input as command. All stages of a game include a very vivid description and it is according to these descriptions that the user takes actions. The first generation of these included legendary games like the 'Zork' series that held many users at the edge of their seats for each release and the surprises that came with them. Following the tradition is this Easter Egg by Google that let's users control the capital 'g' of the Google logo over a map, trying to find the other letters.

Where is it located?

Go to the Google Homepage or open a new tab on Google Chrome, and search for 'text adventure'. After the pages displays on the screen, you can either right-click and select 'Inspect', or alternatively, you can do Ctrl+Shift+I (on Windows) or Cmd+Shift+I (on Mac) to show the Developer's console. Then, select the 'Console' on the top bar.

You can play the game by entering 'yes', but if 'no' is entered, the console shows the following lines, which a reference to WarGames.

Are there any more references/surprises in the game?

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Yes, in fact, the game's end refers an entire language in itself. The end of the game requires a puzzle to be solved, and as it turns out, the answer is 'e1337'. Anyone who hangs out in online chatting websites will know of the language called 'Leet' (or 'eleet'), where specific characters are replaced by numeric values that look similar. For example - in Leet, '1337' means 'leet'. Thus, 'e1337' means 'eleet'.

There is a point in the game, where the description of your surroundings includes the line - 'A cute duck quacks at you.'. When you reach the place, just enter 'quack' and you will see the following - 

[NO MORE SPOILERS AHEAD]

The text adventure game is undoubtedly a tribute to the age of the Interactive Fiction games. It has a very interesting plot, and is overall easy and fun to play. Did you manage to beat the game? Post your score in the comments!

Happy Hunting!

EasterEggHunter