Ah Google. You clever, clever people, you.
Every now and then the Internet giant surprises us with a new, fun way to interact with the search engine. The latest in the well-known Easter Eggs is called Zerg Rush. It’s a fun little game that you can even get highscores on!
Searching for the keywords “Zerg Rush” brings up the regular results page, but the links aren’t clickable. After the results appear, a host of red and gold Os (called zerglings) from the logo will drop down and start destroying the results. And it’s your duty to stop them. The game is, of course, a reference to Blizzard’s StarCraft. For those unfamiliar with the game, a “Zerg rush” is a tactic using the Zerg’s low cost and huge numbers to simply overwhelm the opponent.
Clicking on the pesky zerglings will destroy them. The more you destroy, the higher your score. They come from the bottom too, so watch out. Writing that sentence just made me think of the famous Buffy line “it eats you, starting with your bottom”. When the zerglings have finally managed to overcome you, you will be given the choice to post your score to your G+ page.
Google is, of course, well known for these little Easter Eggs. Last December we got “Let it Snow” where searching for the phrase made snowflakes start falling which eventually covered the search results. Last year’s “Do A Barrel Roll” is a particular favourite, whereby searching makes the whole website rotate.
Other examples include searching for “askew”, “Chuck Norris”, “recursion” – my favourite! – and for directions from “the Shire” to “Mordor” in Maps.