Google’s search engine is one of the most used productivity tools in the world, but it is also a fantastic online gaming platform where you can have fun playing “great classics” for free. Please apologize in advance for the sudden drop in your work efficiency.
The Best Free Online Games to Play from Google
Most of the games featured here appeared as a “Doodle,” a temporary modification of the Google logo for a special occasion. Some of them are still online by simply typing the name of the game into the Mountain View giant’s search engine. The others were saved elsewhere online for play. Here is a selection of the best free online games.
1. Pac Man: an insatiable hunger
We no longer present Pac-Man, one of the classic video games of the 80s created for the Japanese company Namco. As addictive as ever, the game obviously challenges you to eat all the “pac-gums” without being touched by the ghosts. To access it, just type “Pac Man” into the Google search engine and it will be displayed as a Doodle. All you have to do is click on “Play”.
Play Pac-Man
2. Atari Breakout (brick breaker): get out of prison
The Atari brick breaker is a variation of the legendary Pong. The arcade machine, designed by Nolan Bushnelln, would have been designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the (future) founders of Apple. As the name of the game suggests, the goal is to break bricks in a row, using a ball that bounces off the sides of the screen and onto the racket that the player controls. The word “Breakout” means “escape” in English, the bricks evoking those of a prison.
Play Atari Breakout
3. Snake: eat apples
A genre in its own right, the snake game has had many variations since the 70s. The most notable is undoubtedly that of 1998 which we found in Nokia phones. Google’s game obviously benefits from modernized graphics, but the principle remains the same: eat apples with the snake which gets bigger as you go. Only one rule: do not touch the edges or the rest of the snake with its head. Type “Snake” or “snake game” into Google to access it. You can also click on the link below.
Play Snake
4. Solitary: the in-laws
Also called “success” or “the Gold Rush”, Solitaire lives up to its name perfectly as it is played alone. You are faced with a deck of 52 cards divided into seven columns. All you have to do is put the families back together. Google offers here two difficulties for this title on which we spent a lot (too much) time on Windows. Type “Solitaire” in the search bar or click on the link below to start a game.
Play Solitaire
5. Morpion: tic tac toe
Whether on a table with a friend or online against Google, tic-tac-toe is one of the simplest games to learn. The particularity of the Google version is that you can play directly against the search engine with three levels of difficulty, or with a friend to whom you will simply pass the cursor after having played your turn. Note that the game is called “Tic tac toe” in Shakespeare’s language and that’s what you’ll need to type into the search bar to access it.
Play Tic Toe
6. Minesweeper: walk on eggshells instead
Minesweeper is another puzzle game that is extremely popular with Internet users. The best-known version is undoubtedly the one found on Windows, alongside Solitaire. The goal is to locate mines hidden in a virtual field (represented by a grid). The only indication you have to avoid exploding is the number of mines present in the adjacent area. This requires a good dose of patience and composure.
Play Minesweeper
7. Quick, Draw! : play with AI
If you like Pictionary, let us introduce you to “Quick, Draw!” », a game where you have to draw an object in 20 seconds. Here you don’t play with a friend, but with Google’s artificial intelligence. This is a fun way for Google to train the neural network of its artificial intelligence at a lower cost. If you don’t mind “contributing to machine learning research”, you’ll have a few minutes of fun with it.
Play Quick, Draw!
8. Space Invaders: They Are Among Us
With three ships and the Google logo as your only shield, you will have to repel a horde of alien invaders. Released on arcade machines in 1978, we can no longer count the number of adaptations of Space Invaders. We still enjoy playing it, but you shouldn’t be fooled by appearances, the game can quickly give you a hard time.
Play Space Invaders
9. Pony Express: Lost Mail
Your mission if you accept it: collect as many letters as possible to post them, while avoiding the numerous obstacles in your path. Cactus, rocks, snow, you will have to demonstrate great dexterity with the keys of your keyboard to make your way on this path strewn with pitfalls.
Play Pony Express
10. Santa Tracker: give Santa a makeover
While you wait to be able to monitor Santa’s journey during his winter tour, you can always give him a makeover. In this very fun online game, you are Sant Claus’ hairdresser. You can put a little perfume on him, color or dry his beard, but also trim it. If you accidentally make a hole, you can always reload the page. Budding barbers, grab your clippers.
Hair styling Santa
11. Cricket: six!
What’s better to relax than a game of cricket? Behind its simplistic game appearance, it requires great precision. Timing is key here to swing your bat at just the right time to return the ball perfectly and perhaps hit a “six” by sending it out of bounds, the equivalent of a “home run” in baseball.
Play cricket
12. Football: you will not pass!
In this penalty shootout, you do not play the role of the shooter, but the goalkeeper. Move from left to right with the arrows on your keyboard and jump using the space bar. Very basic, this Doodle released on August 10, 2012 for the London Summer Olympics has not aged very well, but still lets you play for a few minutes.
Play soccer
13. Zerg Rush: They destroy everything in their path
We end this selection with Zeg Rush, a fairly stressful game which features parasites presented in the form of small colored circles. Their favorite food? Google search results! Your mission: prevent them from devouring everything by clicking on it repeatedly. You will quickly be overwhelmed as there are so many of them.
Play Zerg Rush
A link to bring them all together, and on the web, play them
As you may have already noticed, some of the free games in this line are not all available directly from the search engine. Indeed, Google removed some of them, but fortunately they were archived on the “elgooG” site. There you can find the list of official “Easter Eggs” which have been killed by Google, but also those which have been improved or developed by the community.
We invite you to take a tour to discover even more. Do not hesitate to tell us which ones you have tested and enjoyed, including those which are not (yet) in this list of the best free online games.
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