We missed this when it initially dropped back in August, but after playing around with it a little bit this morning, I thought we’d tell you about it. In cooperation with SCRAP, Google Japan has developed a very unusual browser-based puzzle game called — wait for it — The Google Puzzle.
It poses a number of challenges revolving around Google’s many services. The end goal is to save the ‘O’ which has mysteriously been trapped in a browser pop-up.
Caution, there be spoilers up ahead!
The first puzzle I was given involved the use of Google Maps, with six maps presented in six tiny pop-up windows. Switching each map to satellite mode revealed a letter, and when combined they give you the answer to the first puzzle.
 Google Map Puzzle |
 Google Translate puzzle |
The second puzzle involves Google Translate. This one tripped me up a little, but thankfully there is a ‘hint’ button which told me to use the ‘detect language’ feature. That did the trick. Just as in the previous puzzle, there is an educational element at play here, in that Google is teaching you about how to use its services.
The next puzzle brings YouTube into the game, with letters hidden in a video that spell out a key word. Again, I needed a hint here (perhaps not enough coffee this morning), but after completing I happened to accidentally click on the background browser window. This caused all my Google puzzle pop-ups to fall to the back where I couldn’t see them. Herein lies the danger of building a puzzle out of pop-up windows… But all the same, it’s still a lot of fun.
Of course, you may notice some similarities here with the recent OK Go music video that was created with Google Japan. Like the Google Puzzle, it’s a Chrome experiment, but should work in most modern browsers. A representative with Google Japan tells Penn Olson:
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
