The Google logo is iconic, but so too is the company’s tradition for Doodles, which is where the logo changes to celebrate events, holidays, people, and more. There have been thousands of Doodles over the decades, and here I’ve rounded up the best ones for retro gaming fans.
5
Champion Island
Champion Island is far more than just your standard Google Doodle—it’s a fully-fledged RPG that released over several weeks. Created to celebrate the 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021), Champion Island contains seven sports mini-games like table tennis, archery, and climbing.
You play as Lucky, a feline athlete, as you defeat the champion for each sport to earn sacred scrolls. Exploring the island between the games is great fun too, since there are side quests to discover and characters to chat to.
Champion Island can be enjoyed by anyone, but those familiar with the top-down pixel art games of the 80s and 90s will have an extra layer of appreciation. The presentation is wonderful, boosted by the colorful cutscenes and jaunty music.
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4
Crossword Puzzle
Pre-dating video games entirely, but still loved to this day, is the crossword puzzle. The first crossword appeared in the New York World newspaper in 1913, created by Arthur Wynne. The 100th Anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle Doodle celebrates this brain-busting pastime.
This Doodle begins as showing “Google” written in a crossword grid, but once clicked becomes an interactive puzzle. It was created by crossword constructor Merl Reagle and Google engineer Tom Tabanao, who found it a great opportunity to bring Wynne’s name into the spotlight (he apparently never made any money from the crossword).
The first word across in Wynne’s first crossword in 1913 was “fun”. That fact might help you complete this Doodle!
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3
Coding for Carrots
In 1967, the first programming language for children arrived, called Logo. It evolved during its early years and became known for its turtle, which drew out the results of commands on screen. It might seem obvious now how computers can help children learn, and how useful programming can be as a skill, but at the time it was innovative.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Logo, Google created the Coding for Carrots Doodle. In this interactive game, you help a rabbit collect carrots by chaining together commands. It’s based on the Scratch programming language, which was influenced by Logo (among others).
“It makes me happy to think of all of the nine-year-olds who will get their first coding experience playing with today’s Doodle,” said Champika Fernando, a member of the Scratch team, when this Doodle launched in 2017. “My hope is that people will find this first experience appealing and engaging, and they’ll be encouraged to go further.”
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2
Jerry Lawson
The Gerald “Jerry” Lawson’s 82nd Birthday Doodle celebrates an American engineer, born in New York in 1940, who led the development of the Fairchild Channel F system. It was the first home console to have interchangeable game cartridges, which later led Lawson to be dubbed the “father of the video game cartridge.”
In 1980, Lawson founded one of the first Black-owned game development companies, VideoSoft. Though the company only lasted five years, Lawson went on to consult on various projects. He died in 2011 at 70 years old.
This interactive Doodle celebrates Lawson’s legacy and was developed in collaboration with his children. It not only tells Lawson’s story, but lets you design your own game with platforms, enemies, and goals. If you’re stuck for inspiration, play and edit one of the pre-made games.
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1
Pac-Man
Pac-Man should need no introduction. The legendary 1980 arcade game revolutionized the industry in many ways and has spawned spin-off games, TV shows, merchandise, and more.
For those who have been living under a rock, the titular Pac-Man is a yellow circle that you guide through a maze, chomping dots and avoiding ghosts—until you collect a power-up, that is, which lets you turn the tables and eat the ghosts.
To celebrate what was then Pac-Man‘s 30th anniversary in 2010, Google created an interactive Doodle, suitably titled 30th Anniversary of PAC-MAN. It’s a version of the classic game, playable directly in your browser, as you race around the Google logo and try to set a high score, complete with the original sound effects.
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This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Google Doodles. Not only are there more Doodle games to play, but you can explore the entire archive at Google’s dedicated Doodle website, where you can input your birthday and see what the tech giant has celebrated on that day through the years.
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