Dinosaur Game
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''Dinosaur Game'' (also known as the ''Chrome Dino'') is a
browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on ...
developed by
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
and built into the Google Chrome web browser. The player guides a
pixelated Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...
Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
across a side-scrolling landscape, avoiding obstacles to achieve a higher score. The game was created by members of the Chrome UX team in 2014.


Gameplay

When a user attempts to navigate to a web page on Google Chrome while being offline, the browser notifies the user that they are not connected to the Internet, with an illustration of a
pixelated Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...
Tyrannosaurus rex shown on the page. The game can then be launched either by pressing or on desktop, or by tapping the dinosaur on Android or
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
mobile devices. Additionally, the game can be accessed by inputting chrome://dino or chrome://network-error/-106 into the
Omnibox In a web browser, the address bar (also location bar or URL bar) is the element that shows the current URL. The user can type a URL into it to navigate to a chosen website. In most modern browsers, non-URLs are automatically sent to a search eng ...
. During the game, the Lonely T-Rex continuously moves from left to right across a black-and-white desert landscape, with the player attempting to avoid oncoming obstacles such as cacti and Pteranodons by jumping or ducking. Pressing , , or tapping the dinosaur on mobile devices will cause the dinosaur to "leap", while pressing the key will cause the dinosaur to "crouch". As the game progresses, the speed of play gradually increases until the user hits an
obstacle An obstacle (also called a barrier, impediment, or stumbling block) is an object, thing, action or situation that causes an obstruction. Different types of obstacles include physical, economic, biopsychosocial, cultural, political, technologic ...
or a
Pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...
, prompting an instant game over. Once the player reaches around 700 points, the game switches from dark gray graphics on a white background to pale gray graphics on a black background, representing a shift from day to night, with daytime sky graphics also becoming nighttime sky graphics. The color scheme then alternates as the game progresses. The game was designed to reach its maximum score after approximately 17million years of playtime, in reference to how long the T-Rex existed before it went extinct during the
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction) was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago. With the ...
. If a
network administrator A network administrator is a person designated in an organization whose responsibility includes maintaining computer infrastructures with emphasis on local area networks (LANs) up to wide area networks (WANs). Responsibilities may vary between org ...
disables the ''Dinosaur Game'', an error message appears when attempting to play the game, which features an image of a meteor heading towards the Lonely T-Rex.


Development

The game was created by members of the Chrome UX team in 2014, which consisted of Sebastien Gabriel, Alan Bettes, and Edward Jung. Gabriel designed the player character, named the "Lonely T-Rex". During development, the game was given the
codename A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...
"Project Bolan", in reference to
Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted in ...
, the lead singer of the T. Rex band. The developers chose the dinosaur theme as a reference to the game's function, a joke that not having an internet connection is equivalent to living in the "
prehistoric age Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
s". The game was released in September 2014; initially, it did not work on older devices, so the code was updated and re-released in December of the same year. The pteranodons were added as obstacles with a browser update in 2015. In September 2018, an
Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
was added to the game in celebration of Chrome's 10th birthday and the game's fourth birthday, with a
birthday cake A birthday cake is a cake eaten as part of a birthday celebration. Birthday cakes are often layer cakes with frosting served with small lit candles on top representing the celebrant's age. Variations include cupcakes, cake pops, pastries, an ...
appearing in the desert and a
birthday hat A party hat is any of a number of celebratory hats, most typically in the form of a conical hat made with a piece of thin paperboard, usually with designs printed on the outside and a long string of elastic acting like a chinstrap, going from one ...
appearing on the Lonely T-Rex if the cake is "eaten". In November of the same year, Google introduced a feature to save the player's
high score In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points (except in game shows, where scores often are instead measured in units of currency), and events in th ...
. The game's
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the w ...
is available on the Chromium site. In 2021, Google introduced a widget in March for
iOS 14 iOS 14 is the fourteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for their iPhone and iPod Touch lines. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020 as the successor to iOS 13 ...
which led players to chrome://dino; a similar widget was introduced to Android later that year. In July, an Easter egg for the
2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...
simulating various Olympic activities was added.


Reception

The game received widespread recognition, with the creators revealing in September 2018 that approximately 270million games were played monthly.


In popular culture

The Dinosaur Game is referenced in the "
couch gag The opening sequence of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' is among the most popular opening sequences in television. It is accompanied by " ''The Simpsons'' Theme", one of television's most recognizable theme songs. The fi ...
" opening segment of the season 34 premiere of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', " Habeas Tortoise".


Related media

In May 2020, a
Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
update added '' Surf'', a game where players control a surfer attempting to evade obstacles and collect powerups. Like the ''Dinosaur Game'', it is accessible from an error page when the browser is offline. The game allows for character customization and multiple control schemes. In August 2020, MSCHF and
100 Thieves 100 Thieves, LLC is an American lifestyle brand and gaming organization based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2017 by Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag and Dan Gilbert. The organization competes in several video games, including ''Apex Legen ...
partnered to create a modified version of the game titled ''Dino Swords'', which featured a small arsenal of weapons and time-slowing pills; when mismanaged, the weapons could backfire and harm the dinosaur.


See also

* List of Google Easter eggs


Notes


References

{{Google LLC 2014 video games Action video games Dinosaurs in video games Easter egg (media) Endless runner games Google Chrome Google Chrome games Monochrome video games Video games developed in the United States