Google introduces Atari Breakout Easter egg

Over the years Google has become famous for its Doodles and its Easter eggs. For instance, in 2011 the search giant added the barrel roll trick, which still works to this day -- go to Google.com and type "do a barrel roll" to see it. The company has also combined these treats on occasion -- for instance a Doodle that celebrated the anniversary of Pac Man allowed those who clicked on the Doodle to get an Easter egg, in the form of a playable Pac Man game -- you can still play it from the Doodle gallery.

Now the company celebrates one of the most famous arcade games of all time, Atari Breakout. The game was released way back in April 1976 and gained added popularity on the Atari 2600 console, which was released the following year. While this seems a bit late for the anniversary, Google none-the-less has celebrated the landmark game with a new Easter egg.

To find this latest treat you will need to conduct a search from the Google homepage, much like the previously mentioned barrel roll trick required. Head to Google.com and enter the search term "Atari Breakout". After the results appear, click on Images at the top of the page. At first you will see the normal image search results, but give it a second and these images will suddenly and quickly transform into the blocks, and a paddle and ball will appear at the bottom of your screen. Google calls its version "Image breakout".

Gameplay

It does not get much simpler than this. Use the mouse to move the paddle back and forth across the screen bottom and attempt to bounce the ball up into the blocks to break them. You can gain extra balls as your score increases and the speed of the game also ramps up as you go along. When your play finally ends , Google offers you the opportunity to register your score.

Conclusion

There is not much to this, but Image Breakout provides a fun little time waster and will no doubt be interfering with the productivity of a number of people today, as it has already done with me. Hopefully Google will keep this little game alive.

Tips

• Turn off the music using the mute button at the top as it will get on your nerves soon.
• You can control the pad with the mouse or the left and right keyboard keys.
• The game features no extras like those that Arkanoid offers which makes the game somewhat boring after a while.

Advertisement