Skip to main content

Google’s barrel-roll Easter Egg goes viral

Let’s face it, folks: sometimes you just want to do a barrel roll.

Luckily, the clever crew at Google understand this need, and included a funky little Easter Egg in their search engine that became a viral sensation over the last 24 hours.

As many people discovered recently, conducting a search for “do a barrel roll” in the Google search engine results in, well… your screen doing a barrel roll (rotating 360 degrees in a clockwise direction). It’s worth noting that the trick doesn’t work on all browsers, but should definitely show up if you’re using Google Chrome or Mozilla’s Firefox browser.

For those who can’t place where the line comes from, “do a barrel roll” is one of the early instructions given to players in Nintendo’s classic space-shooter Starfox. Clearly, the Google team has good taste in games.

If you’re looking for other fun tricks to try in Google’s search engine, enter any of these phrases (without the quotation marks, of course): “tilt” “askew” “answer to life, the universe, and everything” (that last one’s for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans).

If you have any more favorites, make sure to let us know in the comment section.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
The U.K. wants to break up Google and Apple’s cloud gaming stranglehold
Playing Diablo Immortal on the Asus ROG Phone 5.

The U.K.'s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is opening an investigation into Apple and Google's dominance of the mobile browser and cloud gaming markets, the body announced today. Both companies could face fines and additional regulation if found guilty of anticompetitive behavior.

The investigation comes as a result of a consultation the body had launched in June, finding that Apple and Google's duopoly on mobile allowed them to control not just operating systems, but app stores and web browsers. The CMA says that both companies controlled 97% of all mobile browsing experiences in the U.K. in 2021 and notes that they could effectively control cloud gaming through browser restrictions. The consultation revealed support from browser vendors and cloud gaming service providers who claim to be limited by the duopoly, with about 86% requesting for an in-depth investigation.

Read more
Pokémon Violet and Scarlet include an adorable Red and Blue Easter egg
The player rival of Pokemon Violet and Scarlet holds a Pokeball.

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet may be a radical reinvention of the Pokémon formula, but they still pay tribute to past games. In particular, the Paldea region includes a few callbacks to Pokémon Red and Blue that are sure to make fans nostalgic.

The most notable reference comes in Alfornada, a town nestled on top of a mountain in the southwest corner of Paldea. This is where players will fight the game's psychic gym, which is intended to be one of its latest game challenges. It's one of the game's smaller towns, but its notable for a massive stone arena where that battle takes place. Walk up to it and you may notice something very familiar about it.

Read more
Google Stadia has started issuing refunds — here’s what to look for
Google Stadia controller.

Google will begin issuing refunds to Google Stadia customers amid the imminent shutdown of the game streaming platform. The Silicon Valley tech giant said on Stadia's support page that starting November 9, it will automatically attempt to process refunds for every purchase, including games, DLC, hardware such as the Stadia controller, and subscription fees other than Stadia Pro.

Stadia customers who made fewer than 20 purchases will receive one email notification of a refund for each transaction. Stadia customers with 21 purchases or more will get a single email summarizing all of the refund attempts, including instructions on potential additional steps needed to complete the refund.

Read more