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Google Easter Eggs REVEALED: Barrel Rolls, Tilt, Pig Latin, And More!
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 3, 2011
Modified Nov 3, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 3, 2011
Modified Nov 3, 2011
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Reddit is all about Google easter eggs today: User "Tacked" was amazed to learn that one can command Google to perform the internet equivalent of stupid pet tricks. Because who wouldn't want to make their computer screen "do a barrel roll"?
Just go to Google.com, type in "do a barrel roll" (or "z or r twice"), and your whole screen will spin around (watch a demonstration here). The phrase is associated with the Nintendo 64 game "Star Fox"—one of the game's characters, Peppy Hare, would tell the player to "Do a barrel roll" with an on screen text display (to press z or r buttons twice!). According to Urban Dictionary, "do a barrel roll" is what you say when someone asks you for important advice in their life.
Barrel rolls aren't the only easter eggs on Google—if you type in "askew" or "tilt", the whole screen will do so. If you search for "anagram," it'll show "Did you mean: nag a ram." If you search for "recursion," it'll ask "Did you mean: recursion." If you type in "Google gravity," and then hit "I'm feeling lucky," the screen will literally fall to the bottom due to a "lack of gravity." If you type in "Google Pig Latin" and hit "I'm feeling lucky," guess what happens?
You can see a full list of the easter eggs here (and some screenshots of some here), including the Google Feed Ninja, Douglas Adams calculator references, and the hidden flight simulator feature in Google Earth. Unfortunately for Pro-Googlers, none of this will make the loss of the + operator, a standard bit of syntax used to force words and phrases to appear in search results, any easier to swallow.
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easter eggs
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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