Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched the Doodle Fruit Games, a commemorative game to celebrate the Summer Olympics 2016 in Rio, Brazil.
In Rio de Janeiro, athletes from all around the world will compete for glory. However, the Doodle Fruit Games are entirely different. People get to control animated fruit, and they have to excel in a whole variety of disciplines to claim the title of the freshest fruit.
The mobile video game features seven competitions, and people can play it from the search bar on their desktop PCs. The game is also available as a Google app for Android and IOS until August 21 when the Olympics in Brazil come to an end.
Google activated a unique search bar for Rio 2016
The Google Doodles YouTube channel released a video promoting the game on August 4. The video lasts a little more than a minute, and it shows a bunch of fruit coming to life and participating in a crazy version of the Games.
Current game modes include a coconut biking game, a pineapple tennis match, a strawberry marathon to escape from a giant rolling watermelon, a swimming game to avoid floating ice cubes, spider-riding, water polo and golf.
In addition to the video game, Google activated a unique search bar to track Rio 2016’s progress. With it, people can follow the games, results stats, and much more. People can also get to know more about the athletes and the countries participating in the event.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin created the first doodle ever
Google has been celebrating different important dates by changing the image on the company’s search bar. In the beginning, it was just a picture making reference to an important day, but with time, Google’s developing team started using animations.
It was then when doodles became part of the pop-culture. The most famous doodles honored Freddy Mercury, John Lenon, and many others. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, designed one in 1998 to honor the Burning Man festival.
Then, the directors asked outsiders to make more, and they became very popular among users. When the company realized that, they asked an intern, Dennis Hwang, to create a doodle to honor the Bastille day. He did such a good job that the executives decided to create a new division called ‘Doodlers.’
Frequency and complexity of Doodles increased after the one released in January 2010 to honor Isaac Newton, which was the first animated Doodle ever.
In May of that same year, the first interactive Doodle appeared to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the arcade game Pac-Man. As of 2016, the Doodlers have created over 2000 Doodles.
Source: Google
