In a blog post, Google detailed some of the entertainment-focused changes recently made to search. In an effort to liven up its search results pages, it has integrated two of the oldest and most popular games ever created. The company has previously offered lively mini-games within its daily Doodles, alongside other embedded games such as Pac-Man.
Searching for keywords such as “solitaire,” “play solitaire,” or “solitaire game” will display a large “Play Solitaire” card above the main search results. Tapping it opens the game. It is available on desktop and mobile devices, letting you play through the popular patience game wherever you happen to be.
The HTML5 game is based on traditional Solitaire rules. It includes buttons to start again and undo the last move. A set of optional sound effects can be toggled on or off, a feature office workers may find useful today. Two difficulty settings are available to let you tailor the game to your ability.
Tic-Tac-Toe gets a similar treatment. You can customise the difficulty level and play against the computer or a friend. The two games are available to play now by typing their names or relevant phrases into Google. Google also pointed out some of the other “fun tips” that are already available within search, including “what sound does a pig make?” and “flip a coin.”
“Today we’re dealing two new hands from the Google Search deck: solitaire and tic-tac-toe. Now you can play two of the oldest and most popular games for all ages, on desktop and in the Google app,” said Google. “These are just a sample of the delightful surprises that await you on Google. After all, Search is for so much more than research and practical matters — it’s for fun, too!”
This isn’t the first time Google has created search games. In 2010, it created a famous playable Pac-Man Doodle to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary. It proved so popular it is now available within search results by typing “pac-man.” A RescueTime report later estimated the Doodle cost the world 4.8 million hours of productivity.
More recently, Google has run a series of light-hearted fruit-themed Doodle games to celebrate the 2016 Rio Olympics. The games were designed for mobile devices and the majority were based on popular casual titles given a fruity twist. Google used the Doodles to encourage people to more regularly visit its mobile app, incentivising daily returns to try out the next game.
The addition of Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe will please casual gamers looking for a simple way to experience classic titles. The games are already available on hundreds of online websites but having them accessible from a single search makes them much easier to find. It also saves on storage space compared with downloading an app and eliminates data waste from visiting ad-heavy gaming sites.
