It's not exactly playing Pong on the side of a 29-story building, but Google's latest playable Easter egg commemorates 37 years of popping colored tiles with a slow-moving ball and paddle.
Old school Atari favorite Breakout hit arcades 37 years ago, and is back for your enjoyment. Just type "Atari Breakout" into Google Image Search, hit enter, and start knocking your way through the various levels.
Photo tiles appear just as they would on any Google search results page, but this time are lit up with their corresponding row's color, creating a rainbow of Atari and Breakout images across a black screen. Game play is exactly as you may remember it: Knock out all of the blocks and rack up points, while trying to keep the ball from falling off the screen, and then move on to the next level.In this case, Google will provide another set of photo-bricks, this time a random grouping of images. My game launched a second level of hamster pictures, and a third with images of what must have been a European landmark (I closed the page before I lost too many hours of my work day).
If you're proud of your final score, share it on Google+ with the provided link. Meanwhile, those actually looking for images of Atari's Breakout can click on "Return to Image Search," but it'll take a lot of willpower to not get sucked into the game.
Reddit user Techchris posted a (NSFW) message about the hidden game Monday evening simply writing "Well done, Google!" with a hyperlink to the results page.
Breakout launched in the spring of 1976, from a prototype designed by Steve Wozniak, and was inspired by the two-player Pong, also from Atari. The game's success influenced revamped versions, including Super Breakout and Breakout 2000 — a 3D version of the arcade classic.
If you're still bored at work after playing a few rounds of Breakout, try typing "zerg rush" into Google.com, or search for "do a barrel roll" and "tilt" or "askew." Also check out the slideshow above.
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