By now, you’ve probably seen some of the cool Google Doodles – those logos at the top of the Google search page that replace the standard Google logo from time to time. Those logos stick around for a day or so, and then are seemingly lost forever. Except they aren’t. You can find a complete list of Google logos on the Google logo archive page. The archive page has one shortcoming, though. Some Google logos were interactive, and on the archive page they are presented as static images, with no way to use the interactive elements. With a bit of digging (i.e. Google searching), though, you can locate some of the interactive logos. Here are six of them.
To commemorate the 160th anniversary of the first World’s Fair, Google rolled out this logo. Your cursor turns into a magnificying glass, allowing you to see items in the logo that you otherwise can’t, such as a spinning woman, and birds in the tree.
2. Jules Verne
Appealing to the inner geek in all of us, the Jules Verne logo allows you to control Captain Nemo’s submarine, Nautilus. You look out the portholes, and pull and move a lever to ascend, descend, and move left and right.
3. Pac-Man
If you’re over 40, you remember Pac-Man. The Google Pac-Man logo doubles as a mini version of game, allowing you to use your keyboard to control Pac-Man. This Google logo was originally created for the game’s 30th anniversary on May 22, 2010.
4. Les Paul
The Les Paul interactive logo, to celebrate Les Paul’s 96th birthday, lets you play the guitar by moving your cursor over the cords.
5. Particles
The Google particle logo is a tease of sorts. Move your cursor over the Google logo, and particle balls dodge around the cursor, never to be touched.
6. Buckyball
The Buckyball logo is another logo that lets you use your cursor. Move your cursor to spin the ball in different directions.
Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.
Amit says:
Few months ago i was looking for one about… Dali, i believe, and got to that logo archive page. God, that’s long! Kept hitting Next for about 10 minutes before i got bored and realized i’m never going to find it like that.
July 25, 2011 — 1:36 am
Aurora says:
YOU MISSED THE PIANO LOGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MESSED WITH THAT THING ON GOOGLE REPLAY FOR MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!
May 28, 2012 — 9:23 am
Kosmo @ The Soap Boxers says:
That’s one of the things I like about Google – they have a fun side to them.
They definitely need an interactive baseball game.
July 25, 2011 — 9:20 am
Evan Kline says:
I don’t know if you saw Google’s bids on the Nortel patents, but they bid all sorts of crazy numbers, most of which had significance to mathematicians, or were tied to something else, like the distance to the sun.
July 25, 2011 — 12:43 pm
Kosmo @ The Soap Boxers says:
That sounds like something I would do.
When I was in a sim baseball league and there was cash involved in a deal, I’d always use strange numbers.
July 25, 2011 — 1:24 pm
Adrian says:
Wow! I didn’t know that logo’s are still active, I missed Les Paul’s logo, it is fantastic.
July 25, 2011 — 7:01 pm
Evan Kline says:
That one makes me wish that I could play guitar.
July 26, 2011 — 9:07 am
Tita Buds says:
The google logo changes have become a fun way for millions of people to learn bits of history that would otherwise have been overlooked. Of course, I’m writing this comment only after spending 5 minutes playing Pac-Man. :) Thanks, Evan.
July 30, 2011 — 12:15 pm
Evan Kline says:
You’re welcome. Now I’m off to Pac-Main . . .
July 30, 2011 — 1:57 pm
Shahar says:
The Les Paul doodle and the Pacman doodle were the greatests !!
July 31, 2011 — 8:34 pm
Evan Kline says:
Although a bit too tempting as time killers!
August 4, 2011 — 4:01 pm
Neko Hibiki says:
How about adding the one with the moon that changed colors, that was really neat?
August 19, 2011 — 7:59 am
Evan Kline says:
I’m not familiar with that one, Neko. Time for me to go find it.
August 23, 2011 — 4:00 pm
GregT says:
Here’s one you missed! ;)
http://www.google.com/logos/2011/earthday.html
October 12, 2011 — 1:10 am
Evan Kline says:
Nice find!
October 22, 2011 — 2:07 pm
Kim says:
See http://www.google.com/doodles/search?query=interactive+doodles
March 8, 2012 — 12:16 am
silvrshadowfenix says:
i like these, anyone got more?
May 2, 2012 — 10:41 am
Evan Kline says:
Check out Kim’s link, above, but click the link on that page to sort by date, and you’ll get a few more.
May 3, 2012 — 9:39 am
pinkypye says:
If you click on that little rectangle at the bottom of the guitar, you can record yourself playing it!
June 13, 2012 — 5:29 pm
Ellie525 says:
You’ve got one thing wrong: It doesn’t matter how old you are, you remember Pacman. My best friend’s favourite game when we were ten was Pacman, only five years ago.
November 20, 2012 — 12:50 am