The big list of Google Easter eggs

 

Search for Askew

Sometimes, Google alters search results to display a literal interpretation of your query. Search for “askew” and sure enough, your results will be displayed slightly akimbo. No SEO manipulation here — they still function as “normal” search results, but they just look crooked.

Search for Recursion

According to Wikipedia, “recursion … is the process of repeating items in a self-similar way. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics and computer science, in which it refers to a method of defining functions in which the function being defined is applied within its own definition. As a logical next step, Google asks, “Did you mean: recursion?”

Search for the answer to life the universe and everything

In his classic book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams wrote “the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.” For years, people have been trying to decipher the “hidden” meaning behind the number 42, but Adams himself, late in life, said “The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat on my desk, stared in to the garden and thought 42 will do. I typed it out. End of story.” Nonsense or not, Google’s calculator returns the number 42 in response to this query.

Search for do a barrel roll

A barrel roll is an airplane maneuver where the pilot executes a complete 360 degree roll while continuing to fly forward at a consistent altitude—as if the landing gear of the plane were rotating around the inside of a barrel. Google took a bit of poetic license with this definition, “spinning” the result page through a 360 degree loop. Click the link above to see it in action for yourself.

Search for zerg rush

A “zerg rush” is a tactic originated in the video game Starcraft that involves swarming a low-level or poorly equipped group against an opposing group in the hope that sheer numbers will overwhelm the enemy. Search for zerg rush and you’ll trigger a simplified example of a zerg rush using a swarm of “O’s”, ending up with the traditional “GG” (meaning “good game”). Tip: Clicking an “O” three times kills it—but that may not help, as another swarm has been wiping out search results starting with the bottom of the page.

Search for “text adventure“

In the upper right corner of the browser window, click the three vertical dots that let you customize and control Google Chrome, and select More Tools > Developer Tools from the dropdown menu.

Search for “conway’s game of life“

British mathematician John Horton Conway devised one of the first computer simulations of “life,” allowing observation of various stages of “evolution” of cells as they interact with one another over time. Conway’s “game” is quite simple – as a “player” you simply create an initial configuration of cells, turn it on, and watch it evolve, with no further interaction. The simulation has been widely used in many areas of computer science research.

Search for “anagram“

Anagrams are a form of word play, requiring both creativity and a strict adherence to the “rules.” An anagram is the rearrangement of a word or phrase into a different word or phrase, using exactly the same letters but in a different order or sequence. The cleverest anagrams often result in puns or clever innuendo, such as “Clint Eastwood” (an anagram of “old west action”) or for fans of the long-running TV show Doctor Who, a reference to another show in that fictitious universe, an acronym of “Doctor Who” itself, “torchwood.”

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