Atari Breakout: How To Play The New (And Addictive) Google Easter Egg

Google dropped its later Easter egg on Tuesday for "Atari Breakout," in honor of the game’s 37th anniversary, which allows users to play a digital game like the old-school arcade game.

The game works like this (since I’ve already wasted half of my morning playing it): A simple Google Image search for “Atari Breakout” yields a tiny pinball-like object used to break blocks, which happen to be tiny thumbnail images just like a Google Image search. A static flipper is the only means from keeping your pinball active, though users get five chances to keep the ball in play.

So how do you access the game in order to play? Simply type “Atari Breakout” into the Google Image search bar and hit “enter” (or click the embedded link provided here.) It’s that simple. And don’t get mad at us after you’ve wasted half your morning playing too.

Best of all, you can share your score with friends on social media.

The Easter egg comes in honor of the introduction of "Atari Breakout" 37 years ago in 1976. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, the game was heavily influenced by the popular "Pong" arcade game. "Atari Breakout," though, was available on the game console Atari for gamers to play at home and eventually evolved into upgraded games like "Super Breakout."

Of course, this isn’t Google’s first Easter egg or little surprise trick. Google quite frequently creates these hidden gems for holidays like “Hanukkah," "Festivus" and another in honor of winter with “Let It Snow.” It all began with “Do A Barrell Roll,” an Easter egg that spins your screen and temporarily turns it upside down as it spins.

According to Google, these Easter eggs are inside jokes done by engineers working at Google headquarters to add amusement to the search engine giant.

So enjoy today's "Atari Breakout" Easter egg while it lasts!