The most famous Easter eggs in the history of computing: from Google’s Barrel Roll to IG’s Pong mini-game

Hidden features, secret games, animations and information that serve no functional purpose. These are just some of the possible Easter eggs that have entertained technology enthusiasts from all over the world over the years. The concept of “Easter egg” (literally “Easter egg”, from the traditional treasure hunt of Nordic origin to find hidden eggs during the Easter holidays) in computer science refers to a deliberately hidden functionality, which can only be activated via key sequences and specific commands or when particular conditions occur. They should not be confused with bugs, as they are elements intentionally inserted by the developers, often for recreational or celebratory purposes.

The first documented Easter egg dates back to 1979, in the video game Adventure for Atari 2600: programmer Warren Robinett hid his name in the game, circumventing company policies that prohibited developers from crediting their work. Since then, the term has entered the computer lexicon to mean any intentionally hidden content.

Unlike standard features, Easter eggs are not officially documented and require non-intuitive interaction: key combinations, specific searches or sequences of actions to perform to unlock them. From an engineering perspective, they are non-essential, often isolated pieces of code that do not interfere with the core operation of the software. In this article we have selected our 7 favorite Easter eggs.

Apple’s Mighty Mouse

In the Mighty Mouse, Apple introduced what we could call a “hardware Easter egg”. The red LED located under Apple’s wired Mac mouse was, in fact, hiding a curious secret: lifting the mouse from the desk, the red light of the LED projected the head of a mouse.

Barrel Roll by Google

By typing do a barrel roll in the Google search bar, the page rotates on itself, simulating the aerial acrobatic maneuver that combines a turn and a roll, creating a helical or spiral trajectory around the flight line.

Dino from Chrome

When we are offline and try to navigate with Chrome, Dino, a small dinosaur, appears. By pressing the space bar we activate the endless runner (now quite well known to most) and we can try to establish a new personal record. This Easter egg was created to transform the frustration of not being able to surf online into fun. Bear in mind, however, that by visiting the address chrome://dino/ on Google Chrome you can play the game even when you are online. Do you know, theoretically, how long a game of this game could last? Its developers revealed this some time ago in an interview and explained: «We developed it to last for up to about 17 million years, the same amount of time the T-Rex has been alive on Earth».

Surfing game hidden in Edge

Microsoft has integrated a game into Edge that can be accessed by typing edge://surf (when you are online) or by clicking on the Start Game button (when you are offline and the page informing you of this is shown). Similar to SkiFreeallows you to control a surfer while avoiding obstacles. The game is also included in the mobile versions of the Microsoft Edge app.

Pong game hidden in Instagram DMs

A Pong-inspired mini-game has been integrated into Instagram direct messages. Just send a single emoji in chat, tap on it and the game interface in question will appear.

The YouTube strobe player

Not everyone knows about it, but it is possible to make the scroll bar of the YouTube player flash (which is normally red). To do this, simply start playing a video and type “awesome” on the keyboard (by typing the command again the effect can be deactivated).

The hidden dog on Samsung smartphones

Some Samsung Galaxy series smartphones include a hidden photo of a Chihuahua. To find it you need to open the Phone app, dial *#0*# and, in most cases, you need to tap SENSOR and then IMAGE TEST.