The Google Game Appeal

Google’s remake of the classic game “Pac Man”

Let me set the scene for you – May of 2010, you go to search for something on the web, when you notice the Google logo has been replaced with an interactive remake of Pac Man for the game’s 30th anniversary. This was the first Google game released, which started a huge wave of Google games, including Snake, Minesweeper, Solitaire, and even some of their own original games.

Most students are aware of most of these games for one main reason – they’re notoriously hard to block on school systems. Because of their integration into Google, they can’t be blocked with a simple website ban because that would stop students from browsing the internet entirely. They’re also constantly being developed, so it’s a pain to keep up and maintain blocking all the Google games. Because of this accessibility, it makes it a high candidate for curing boredom at school.

Out of the students interviewed, half of them only played these games at school as they had better options at home. However, the other half interestingly said that when they played Google games at home, it was while they were supposed to be doing schoolwork or being productive. Aubrey Redford, a senior here at Orem High said “I normally play other games like Breath Of The Wild outside of school. Still, I’ll play the Google doodles when I should be studying.” For some reason, playing these Google games at school has correlated them with getting out of work, so they come to mind even when there are better options procrastinating at home.

Some Google games are harder than others. Kenya Brown, a sophomore, said that out of all the games, she “played the most Minesweeper because it’s fun, because you have to think about it, so it takes a while.” The most popular Google game according to the consensus of the students interviewed was the Doodle Champion Island game, a full game with several minigames, sidequests, and characters. Of course, there are some students like Clara Tabla, a junior who had only heard of Google snake, the easiest game to access, found just by typing “snake” into the google search bar.

Of course, once upon a time there were better alternatives. Multiple students, such as Adam Westwood, said that they much preferred Coolmathgames, a game website that was unblocked from school restrictions in elementary school. Unfortunately, this website was blocked as students progressed into middle school and remains blocked to this day. A petition has been made to unblock the site, but for now students will have to stick to the Google games provided.

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Arthur Cummins

Arthur Cummins is a music artist, game developer, filmmaker, actor, and journalist. He’s worked on films such as Renaissance Kid, A Haunted House, and The Witnesses. He has over a dozen songs published, 7 of which are part of an album titled “White Yellow”. Overall, he’s just trying to get through life with as much fun as possible.