All Articles: Google

Oh no, Magic Cat Academy is under attack by a gaggle of ghosts! Quick, help Momo the Cat use her magic wand to expel the sinister spirits!

Magic Cat Academy is also the name of Google’s latest Doodle, and it’s a five-level spellcasting game where players draw symbols with their mouse to defeat an army of ghosts. Each level takes place in a different room at the titular school, and it’s up to Momo the Cat to save her friends.

The game start off easy enough, but players will have to perform some quick-thinking and do some heavy strategizing once they take on ghosts powered by multiple symbols.

Magic Cat Academy can currently be found on Google’s homepage, as well as at its permanent home in the Google Doodle Archive.

Thanks to its ubiquity in pop culture, the Pony Express looms large over the landscape of the American West. And yet, the mail delivery service was only in operation for a scant 18 months.

Never one to let a meaningful anniversary pass by, today’s Google Doodle celebrates the company’s first successful delivery, which occurred 155 years ago today. Best of all, the Pony Express Doodle is a playable side-scrolling game that tasks riders with delivering 100 pieces of mail along a three-town route. But be on the lookout for cacti, avalanches, and bandits as you complete your rounds:

The notion of triumph through adversity is so inspirational. So when William H.Russell, Alexander Majors & William B Waddell founded the Pony Express on April 3rd, 1860, they set in motion a wonderful yet daunting method of communication. What a concept–riders with letters on horseback racing from California to Missouri and vice versa to deliver mail on time! True to their word, the first mail arrived on April 14th. The Pony Express felt like a great game concept to us at Google. We’ve made time-based games in the past so our new idea was simple. Collect letters, avoid obstacles and aim for the ultimate 100 letter delivery! We know everyone is busy these days but the Pony Express needs YOU. And ultimately, whatever happens in life, what’s more important than earning trust and respect from a horse?

It’s a pretty great timewaster and I know I’m going to spend all day trying to top my high score of 59.

Google has added another game to their growing collection of interactive Doodles… and it’s totally radical.

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 40th birthday of one of the most famous puzzles of all time. Initially known as the Magic Cube, the ingenious little contraption didn’t catch on with the rest of the world until it was rechristened as the Rubik’s Cube in 1980. From there, it grew from fad to phenomenon to an enduring symbol of the 1980s. With more than 350 million cubes sold (as of 2009), it’s considered the best-selling toy ever. And for many people, the ability to quickly solve a Rubik’s Cube is seen as a sign of a genius-level intellect. I’m not sure I’ve ever solved a Rubik’s Cube, but Wikipedia has an amazing list of speed records including:

• 5.55 Seconds: Fastest Solve (set by Mats Valk)
• 9.03 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only One Hand (set by Feliks Zemdegs)
• 23.8 Seconds: Fastest Solve While Blindfolded (set by Marcin Zalewski)
• 27.93 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only Feet (set by Fakhri Raihaan)
• 3.25 Seconds: Fastest Solve… by a Robot

If you don’t have a Rubik’s Cube lying around your house, be sure to give today’s Google Doodle a whirl. Even after it leaves the Google homepage, you’ll be able to find it in the Google Doodles Archive.

We’re just a few minutes away from the worldwide debut of “The Day of the Doctor,” the 50th Anniversary special celebrating Doctor Who, everyone’s favorite two-hearted alien with the delightful British accent. The Doctor’s longevity has also earned him a place in an interactive Google Doodle that is now available on Google’s homepage. The Doodle takes the form of an isometric platform game that allows players to choose their Doctor (choices include David Tennant and ten other guys) and reclaim the letters in “Google” from the Daleks.

After today, the Doodle will be added to the Google Doodle archive soon and “The Day of the Doctor” begins in… checks watch… 18 minutes!

66 years ago, an alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and gave extraterrestrials everywhere the biggest boost since a radioman named Orson Welles filed a live report we still haven’t forgotten. During a check of his fields, rancher Mac Brazel found the remains of a “flying saucer” and quickly contacted the government. After the initial hysteria died down, the public came to realize that there were no captured aliens and the “flying saucer” was actually a weather balloon used to spy on the Soviets.

But what if a UFO really did crash in the desert on that warm New Mexico night? That’s what Google wants us to believe with their latest Doodle (which is now on the Google homepage and will be available on the 2013 Doodles page soon). The grey alien just wants to phone home, but to do that, he needs your help. Guiding the alien like in the point-and-click adventure games of old, players will reassemble his spaceship through and discover that the truth (and a can of alien mutagen) is out there.

A hearty “Live long and prosper” to the Googler responsible, this is definitely a close encounter of the awesome kind. When you’re done, be sure and do a Google Search on the “Roswell UFO incident.” The vintage pictures and newspaper clippings are great.

Today’s Google Doodle is another playable one, promising to waste time for everyone. In the game, people go out on the ice and mark it all up, after which it’s your job to go out with your Zamboni and make the ice all smooth again. There are pickups and obstacles, of course, just like any good old-school game. And it’s also completely adorable.

The Doodle is in honor of Frank Zamboni, creator of – what else? – the Zamboni machine, which cleans up the ice after each period in a hockey game. This is also fortuitous seeing as the hockey lockout just ended and hockey will return this very weekend. Needless to say, I’m sure hockey fans are psyched to play this game.

Once the Doodle has smoothed its way off the Google homepage, you’ll still be able to play it here: google.com/doodles/zamboni

Happy 112th birthday, Frank!