21Hidden Google Games You Need to Play - Technical Smart tricks!

Google has some secret fun with at least seven hidden games you can play when you need a break from life. These games are free and can be a great way to escape from stress. You may even learn as you play.

Some of these games bring back memories of classic arcade games. One game tests your knowledge of the world. Another game helps you learn how to fly a plane.

An infographic shows you what the games are, how to find them, and how addictive they are.

Google Hidden Games (Credit: euroffice)

Google Hidden Games (Credit: euroffice)

1.Google Maps and Earth Games

Lovers of flight and geography will enjoy these games hidden in Google Maps and Google Earth.

2.Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator is a hidden game in Google Earth that lets you fly a virtual jet across the sky. Go to Google Earth and download the Google Earth software to your computer to become a virtual pilot. Click on Tools, then Enter Flight Simulator to begin playing the game.

Choose the kind of airplane you want to fly. Then, decide on a departure airport. Maybe you would enjoy a takeoff from the Katmandu airport. You could cyber-soar above the Himalaya mountains.

Users can operate the plane with the keyboard or a joystick. Follow the Flight Simulator guidelines to learn how to do it.

A video from Google Earth shows you how to fly using Flight Simulator.

Test your knowledge of geography and more with Smarty Pins. The game provides questions about places around the world. You answer by placing a marker on Google Maps.

smartypins.withgoogle.com

Once you are on the website the first step is to choose a subject . These include Arts and Culture, Science and Geography, Entertainment and more.

You will be asked five questions. The answer could be a country, city or building. Place your marker on Google Maps where you think the answer should be. Click the plus + button to zoom in and place your marker on a location.

Smarty Pins gives you 1000 miles or kilometers to use. If your answers are correct, and you place your marker on the exact place, you keep all your miles. If you miss by a certain distance you lose that number of miles. You can play until all your miles or kilometers are gone.

After answering five questions, you may get an award. But, do not expect any prize money!

3.Google Search Games

Use Google search to find hidden games you can play on your computer, phone or tablet.

4.Atari Breakout

Google lets you play the classic arcade game Atari Breakout without needing to drop coins into a machine. Type "Atari Breakout" into Google Image Search. The game will appear and you can start playing immediately.

Move the bar at the bottom of the screen to bounce the ball and hit the colored squares. When you have hit all the squares you are done. You can then use the pause button to get a link for sharing your Breakout score with others.

Learn more about the game at the Atari Breakout website.

5.Zerg Rush

Zerg Rush is based on the game Starcraft. Zerg Rush will attack and destroy your Google search results. Go to the Google search page and type in "zerg rush".

Zeros will start dropping from the top of your screen, erasing your search results. Click on the zeros to erase them and protect your results.

A video on YouTube shows how Zerg Rush works.

6.Pac-Man

This classic arcade game was re-created as a Google Doodle on May 21, 2010 to celebrate Pac-Man's 30th birthday. You can play it by typing "Pac-Man Google Doodle" in Google search.

Click the Pac-Man Google Doodle result to play. You move the Pac-Man so it can eat the dots, just like in the famous arcade game. Watch out for the destructive ghosts!

7.Android Device Games

If you have an Android phone or tablet, Google has some surprises for you. Check out these hidden games for new ways of having fun.

8.Flappy Droid

Flappy Droid is Google's version of the game Flappy Bird. This game is hidden on devices running Android versions 5 and 6, also known as Lollipop and Marshmallow.

To find Flappy Droid go to Settings => About Phone => Android version. You will see the version of Android your phone is running.

Tap the Android version text several times and a new screen will open showing the letter “M.” Press and hold the “M” to see a lollipop or a marshmallow.

Tap either image to begin playing the game. Move your Droid through barriers. Be quick! The game moves very fast.

9.T-Rex

But what about when you do not have Internet? T-Rex is a game for offline play. Open Chrome on your Android device and search for "t-rex." If you are not connected to the Internet, you can begin playing the T-Rex game.

Tap on the screen to have your T-Rex hop over barriers. You can remain playfully occupied as you wait for reconnection to the Internet!

I’m Caty Weaver and I'm Kaveh Rezaei

Carolyn Nicander Mohr wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Did you know about these hidden Google games? Do you know about any other hidden Google games? Which of these games have you tried?

Share your thoughts in the Comments Section below or on our Facebook page.

10.joystick - n. a lever used to control the movement of images on the screen in a computer or video game

bounce - v. to cause (a ball, rock, etc.) to hit against a surface and quickly move in a different and usually opposite directionSay what you will about Google, but the old search-engine devil has some fine taste and sense of humor in its design department. Over the years Google’s amassed a veritable trove of hidden games, many of which first appeared in connection with anniversaries but continue to be available to play today.

11.Stadia Pro Two-Month Free Trial (Chrome)

It’s a bit of a technicality here, but the two-month trial of Google’s cloud gaming platform is really something of a steal. Provided you have a good Internet connection, you can stream a play of games for free, including Destiny 2, Metro Exodus and the Serious Sam Collection right from your browser. You can also purchase additional games if you wish, though you’ll need to keep paying a subscription to play them (until the expected free tier launches).

To be clear, you don’t need a powerful PC to play these games, because they’re powered by Google’s servers and stream to you via HD video. You can then play them directly through your browser or a phone app, which is pretty impressive!

We’re not sure how long this two-month free trial will last, so grab it while you can! Sign up using your Google account at Stadia.com.

12. Marshmallow Land (Nova Launcher)

Way back when Flappy Bird used to be a craze, Google got in on the fun by releasing is its own twist on the game – complete with pretty Google graphics and a more polished look. Since Android Nougat, the game has been made inaccessible through the stock Android UI, but it still exists, buried in the system.

To unlock it, you need to install Nova Launcher and enable it as your default home screen launcher. Once you’ve done that, hold down on an empty home screen space, tap Widgets, then hold down the Activities icon until it appears on your home screen.

Let go of the icon, then in the Activities list scroll down until you reach System UI. Tap it, then tap Marshamallow Land to open the game.

An independent developer has also made the game available for free on the Play Store, but this list is about Google’s hidden games, and there’s none quite as well hidden as Marshmallow Land!

13. Google Assistant Games (Android)

Hidden Google Games Google Assistant

One of the best-kept secrets of Google’s AI assistant on Android is that it can direct you to a veritable treasure trove of games if you just ask it the right question. To do this, open Google Assistant (OK, Google), then when it’s listening, say “play game.”

Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to choose from a fairly sizable list of games to play including quizzes; word games; and rock, paper, scissors.

14. Basketball Game (Google Doodle Archive)

If you’ve been Googling for a while (and let’s face it, most of us have), then you may remember this little gem from 2012. This simple basketball game was released to celebrate the 2012 Summer Games and involves you shooting hoops from various distances.

You just hold down your mouse button to increase the power of your throw, so it’s about finding that sweet spot to get the ball in the hoop. You have a limited amount of time to score as many points as possible, and as the game progresses you have to throw from further and further away.

15. Magic Cat Academy (Google Doodle Archive)

Taking us all the way back to Halloween 2016 is this beautifully hand-drawn Google game about a spellcasting cat fending off an endless swarm of incorporeal ghosties. Magic Cat Academy is super-simple, as you stand in the middle of various levels drawing lines that correspond to the symbols above ghosts’ heads to banish them.

The action picks up very quickly, and before long you’ll be swept up in a relentless flow of spectral destruction. There are five levels in total, and you can also regenerate health by swiping a heart shape anywhere on the screen. Good luck!

16. Text Adventure (Google Chrome)

Want to be transported back to the late 70s and get a feel for what gaming used to be like in the days before conveniences like graphics and UIs? Well, you can. Right there in your Google Chrome browser, in fact, where a quirky little text adventure lies in rest, waiting to be uncovered.

To access this well-hidden Google game, open Google in Chrome, then type “text adventure” into the search box.

Next, press Ctrl + Shift + I, then type “yes” in the Console that appears.

The text adventure will then begin. As with every great text adventure, you play simply by typing in commands, which unfold the action and move you through the game world.

17. Great Ghoul Duel (Google Doodle Archive)

Google has many games in its bottomless box of tricks, but none until now have been a full online multiplayer experience. Great Ghoul Duel has shades of a hyperactive Pacman, as you and your teammates glide around a moody library, graveyard and other spooky locales, collecting little flames to take back to your base. The team with the most flames wins!

The extra hook is that when you collect the flames, they give your ghost a tail which the opposing team can then glide into, steal, and take back to their own base. You can host games and invite your friends and family to join.

It’s no longer on the Google homepage, of course, but you can play it in the Google Doodle archive.

18. Garden Gnomes (Google Doodle Archive)

On 10th June 2018 Google celebrated Garden Day in Germany (nope, we’ve never heard of it either) by releasing a Google Doodle themed around garden gnomes. (Did you know they originate from 13th-century Anatolia?)

Clicking this Doodle will start a deviously addictive game where you catapult gnomes as far as you can using a sort of trebuchet. Sounds a bit cruel, but it’s a bit like Angry Birds really, and you never heard them complaining.

The Doodle is now gone, but you can find it in the Google Doodle archive and play it whenever you like.

19. Solitaire (Google Search)

The first game many of you will ever have played on a computer, the classic card-matcher, is available to play directly through Google Search.

Just type “solitaire” into the Google Search, and hit Enter. It’s the same old game you’ve always remembered – about stacking cards in descending order and in alternating colors. It looks nice, too, with a dash of Google’s design swagger.

20. Smarty Pins (Google Maps)

Once upon a time Google’s in-house geography trivia quiz was accessible directly through Google Maps by typing “smarty pins” into the search box. For whatever reason, this wonderfully designed little quiz game is no longer there, but you can find it at smartypins.withgoogle.com.

The game uses Google Maps to ask you all manner of questions (ranging from moderately easy to super tough), which you answer by placing the Maps pin on the location where you believe the answer is located. Points are collected in the form of “miles,” and if you’re struggling, then it gives you witty little hints. Compelling, yet kind of educational, so you don’t feel too bad wasting your time with it.

21. Flight Simulator (Google Earth)

It’s been around for years, but Google Earth is still kind of mind-blowing, letting you whiz around the planet and zoom in on just about anything, anywhere in the world (well, apart from military bases, North Korea, and the usual sketchy stuff).

Better still, Google Earth has a built-in flight simulator that lets you travel around the world using an actual plane. You can even choose whether to fly an SR22 or F-16 jet and play using a joystick, if you have one. Our advice is to turn on 3D buildings as well, which means you’ll get to experience cities like San Francisco (pictured) in their murky-textured but nonetheless 3D glory.

Thanks for reading! And keep playing 😜