Google Doodle’s started back in 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin added a stick figure behind the company’s logo. The idea was to let people know they were out of the office, attending the Burning Man festival. Little did they know that their simple idea would change significantly over the next 16 years, eventually being used to celebrate all kinds of important dates, and even make massive political statements.
Despite first appearing in 1998 doodles didn't become a regular feature until 2000 and even then only 33 appeared all year. SEE MORE AFTER CUT>>>>>
The past 12 months have seen more interactive doodles than ever before, celebrating events ranging from Valentines Day to the 107th birthday of Grace Hopper. Non-interactive doodles are still common, almost a daily occurrence, but interactive doodles are special, coming once in a blue moon. This list takes a look at 6 of the best interactive doodles ever seen.
5.Valentine’s Day And George Ferris’ 154th Birthday: February 14th 2013
Date rolls around that has multiple doodle-worthy events, turns out February 14th is one of them. Not only is it the day that the world celebrates Valentine’s Day but it’s also the birthday of George Ferris Jr. the inventor of the Ferris Wheel.
In 2013 the team of Doodlers combined the two events, resulting in a doodle that saw the Google letters turned into fairground rides and animals falling in love on the Ferris Wheels. Users would press a button and the wheels would spin. Once they stopped two animals would meet across the wheels and would proceed to go on a date, shown by comic like illustrations. Some dates would go well, whereas others, not so much.
Not only is this doodle one of the funnier ones on the list (the date between the bear and octopus makes me giggle every time) it’s also perfectly displayed. The little things such as the moving rides in the background or the little line to show the moment of ‘love at first sight’ across the Ferris Wheels are the details that make this doodle one of the more polished and complex on the list.
4. Google’s 15th Birthday: September 27th2013
One type of event that is celebrated with a doodle more than any other, its birthdays. Usually of people who are no longer with us birthday doodles are use to celebrate the work of those who made significant contributions to the world. So its only fitting that Google celebrated its own birthday with a fun little doodle that is surprisingly addictive.
The doodle itself sees the Google letters holding a party, and in true American birthday party style there is a large Piñata that the ‘g’ is going to attempt to break. Players click the doodle to make the ‘g’ wave the stick, in an attempt to hit the Piñata. If successful a load of candy drops out which not only makes the other letters very happy but also adds to your high score.
The high score is what makes this doodle so addictive, beating your score always seems possible but often you will fall just short, which of course means you just have to try again…and again…and again.
3. Les Paul’s 96th Birthday: June 9th 2011
The Les Paul brand of guitars is perhaps the best known guitar brand in the world and for good reason, the build quality and sound is second to none. So when Les Paul’s 96th birthday rolled around the team of doodlers couldn’t just let it slip by.
The doodle sees the iconic goggle logo transformed into an electric guitar, playable by moving your cursor over each of the strings. Despite only having a handful of notes to play the doodle resulted in 5.1 years’ worth of music being created in just two days! A quick search on YouTube will show some of the tracks that were created, ranging from Metallica covers to traditional Mexican music. Obviously all the creators of these videos clearly have some musical talent so for the average Joe creating anything that sounds remotely good will be a challenge, but a fun and welcome one.
Impressively the doodle still retains the google letters, albeit in a very abstract way that isn’t immediately obvious. Although the simple logo is a very memorable one.
Take a look at the doodle and share your creations in the comments.
2. London 2012 Olympics: August 2012
The Olympic Games have always been a favourite event of the doodlers but the 2012 London Olympics was the first time interactive doodles were used to commemorate the event. On four different days we got doodles that let players try out Football (Soccer), Hurdles, Basketball and Slalom Canoe.
All four of the doodles had very simple controls to make them as accessible as possible and the simple goals of each game makes these some of the most user friendly doodles ever. The soccer doodle is by far the best, as it sees the player being the goal keeper, tasked with saving as many shots as possible. The basketball doodle is perhaps the most addictive due to how simple it is, (just press and hold the space bar to shoot) and the hurdles is the most irritating.
Overall the combination of the four doodles results in a set of the best doodles ever seen. The simplicity of the controls makes them accessible to all and the high score systems makes them very addictive. Sure on their own they may be okay doodles, but if you take a look at them together they become a complete package. One I’m surprised they never developed into a mobile app.
1 . Roswell’s 66th Anniversary: July 8th2013
Even less common is a fully interactive doodle for such an event, so it was a massive surprise when the Roswell doodle was launched on the 66th anniversary of the Roswell Incident. The doodle was a point and click adventure game based around an alien who had crashed to earth, destroying his ship in the process. The aim of the game was to find the three sections of his ship and put them back together, however this was not a simple as it sounds thanks to a collection of farm animals and a sleeping farmer. The resulting puzzles were actually quite challenging and would have even the most experienced point and click players stumped, but persistence pays off and fortunately all the solutions are quite logical.
Not only was the game challenging and incredibly fun but it was a master class in minimalistic design. The art work and sound were both very basic but conveyed enough information in a very stylised way. There was also no tutorial or instructions, only a thought bubble form the alien to show that the ship was in three pieces. A lot of games that have a similar style struggle to convey information in such a basic way so to do it in a doodle shows just how talented the team of doodlers are.
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