Icely done, Google. Today’s Google Doodle celebrates what would have been the 112th birthday of Frank Zamboni, the creator of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machines. Remember when you used to go to the rink as a kid and got kicked off the ice so some old burly dude can make it all smooth and slippery again? With this Google Doodle game, you get to be that burly dude. And man, how I feel his pain.
The adorable little game (found straight off the Google homepage) starts with a sole ice skater making a quick loop on the rink, and it is your task to clean up after the skater’s tracks. Keep an eye on the gas tank, however, as you will run out if you drive around irrelevant parts of the rink. As the game level continues, more skaters hop on the ice (by that, I mean an actual hockey and ice dancer team of skaters), gas tanks appear to help replenish your supply, and some of the skaters have the audacity to drop ice cream cones and banana peels on your freshly-cleaned surface. Every time you finish a level and the skaters come back out to scrape your pristine rink, you’re left feeling like, “Dang it, I just cleaned this ice,” which is probably a pretty accurate depiction of what life as a Zamboni driver must have been like.
But, for all intended purposes, interactive Google Doodles are some of our favorite and the Frank Zamboni edition is no different. If you don’t feel like playing the actual game and getting into the road rage mood, I don’t blame ya. Here’s a video of what you’re missing. By the way, my one and only high score currently stands at 950 if anyone wants a crack at beating it.
