Google Chrome users often ignore the dinosaur game, which appears when you try to visit a website while disconnected from the Internet.
Dino Chrome is a dinosaur runner game that jumps over cacti and avoids obstacles. The controls are very simple, as all you have to do is press the space bar to start the game and jump around, and the down arrow key to duck and avoid obstacles. The goal is to survive for as long as you can – or at least until your internet connection starts working again.
To celebrate Chrome dino's fourth birthday, Google published an interview with the developers who created the game, explaining its origins.
So why did they choose a dinosaur? According to Chrome designer Sebastien Gabriel, it's a game that goes back to "prehistoric times," before the existence of Wi-Fi. While this is undoubtedly strange to some of our younger readers, others will remember having a direct internet connection only in specific places like home, school, work, and specialized Internet cafes.
The original designs for the dinosaur were codenamed “Project Bolan,” which is a reference to Marc Bolan, lead singer of the 1970s glam rock band T-Rex.
Alan Bettes, a senior visual designer at Google, explained that the only constraint the team had was to keep the movement rigid. Initially, we thought, “What if he did a cute little kick at the beginning like our favorite 90s hedgehog? What if he screamed to let people know he was alive?” but in the end, we stuck to the basic functions of any game: running, crouching, and jumping.
The Chrome Dino game, which was released in September 2014, has some impressive numbers to show for it – especially for something that’s largely hidden from direct view, and you’re only likely to encounter if internet goes down. According to Edward Jung, Chrome UX engineer, 270 million games are played every month, across both desktop and mobile. Most of the players come from markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico.
You can play Chrome's dino game without turning on Airplane Mode. Simply open chrome://dino in your web browser and you'll be taken to an "arcade mode" where you can practice in a full-windowed environment. The current version of the game is celebrating its fourth birthday and is filled with colorful cakes, balloons, and hats.
