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You Can Now Play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe in Google's Search Results (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the some-fun-is-not-bad dept.

Paul Sawers, writing for VentureBeat: Google announced a couple of fun little nuggets today: you can now play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe directly in Google's search results. Available through the desktop and Google mobile apps, anyone searching for the keywords "solitaire" or "tic-tac-toe" will see the usual search results, but featured prominently alongside them you'll also now see a "tap to play" option which whisks you off to play the game. Google is no stranger to hiding so-called "easter eggs" in its products, including Search -- for example, last year it had a surprise in store to mark the anniversary of Super Mario. Moreover, Google already lets you play some games within Search, including Pacman.

55 comments

  1. Conway's Game of Life is another by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Conway's Game of Life is another cool easter egg in google search.

    1. Re:Conway's Game of Life is another by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they announce Conway's Game of Life. This may be a bit pedantic, but is it really an "Easter Egg" if they put out an announcement about it. At that point it becomes a feature.

    2. Re: Conway's Game of Life is another by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do what I do. Disable the helpful features, disable java. Gives you a link to html view.

      Or setup a pop mail client.

    3. Re:Conway's Game of Life is another by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Better than Niantic's Game of Death in Japan!

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Conway's Game of Life is another by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Here is one Gmail bug that has been around for literally years: you're used to running Gmail on a computer, and have set up mailing lists. If you are on the road with a mobile device and find that you have to use the Gmail app to communicate, you will find that although you can message with any person in your Gmail contact list, your existing mailing lists are inaccessible.

    5. Re: Conway's Game of Life is another by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Before people suggest the obvious, trying to log into Gmail from a browser results in stupid security notices for EVERY login attempt. Funny, if I try my ancient 2011 phone's Gmail app I apparently am secure

      Also, even on desktop there is a race to the bottom consisting of removing reasonably expected text labels, replaced with hieroglyphs to decypher AND extreme difficulty to tap correctly... Let alone pulling desktop view on mobile devices.

  2. AI needs some improvement by coldsalmon · · Score: 2

    I just won a game of Tic-Tac-Toe for the first time ever.

    1. Re:AI needs some improvement by freeze128 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Google's WOPR won't be online until spring.

    2. Re:AI needs some improvement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google's WOPR won't be online until spring.

      Google, the only winning move is not to play.

      StartPage
      NoScript
      Privacy Badger
      AdBlock Plus

    3. Re:AI needs some improvement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. AI Player "O" tends to play a center rather than a corner. "X" can win every time from that position.

      I won 7 of 8 games as "X".

    4. Re:AI needs some improvement by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Back in middle school, I was so proud of myself when I figured out the thre rules to never losing a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. I've passed this down to my kids so now all our games end in ties.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    5. Re:AI needs some improvement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Am I the only one who noticed there's a difficulty setting? L2P , noobs.

    6. Re:AI needs some improvement by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      That's just the machines trying to lull you into complacency before the nuclear attack.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re:AI needs some improvement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm beating the pants off the AI.

      I wonder if I get a high enough score if one of those secret Google dialogs will pop up and offer me a job interview?

    8. Re:AI needs some improvement by swillden · · Score: 1

      I just won a game of Tic-Tac-Toe for the first time ever.

      Since it's trivial to write an algorithm that plays optimally and since a player using an optimal strategy will never lose, Google clearly did not try to create an "AI" whose focus is winning. Instead, they appear to have created an algorithm that is a fairly decent novice player. Which, actually is a good deal harder than optimal play.

      Well, maybe not. It wouldn't be too difficult to take an optimal play implementation and randomly cause it to choose a bad move. For example, if it's playing X you could have it select a move at random, rather than always taking a corner. And at each subsequent move you could give it a smallish chance of making a bad move. That approach might simulate a decent novice well enough.

      Perhaps a better approach would be to use machine learning and have it learn from novice games, or even from well-played games, but leave it incompletely trained. That might make it more "human-like".

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    9. Re:AI needs some improvement by allo · · Score: 1

      you saw the difficulty switch at top of the game? there is an option "impossible", which does what you would expect.

    10. Re:AI needs some improvement by slinches · · Score: 1

      The real challenge is setting the difficulty to Easy and trying to lose.

      --
      Knowledge Brings Fear
  3. Bad precedent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know it's just Solitaire and Tic-tac-toe, but suppose Google did this with something else...
    Suppose someone had a better ‘Solitaire’... it would hardly get any views, because Google's Solitaire would be the one people were playing because it's just there.
    Is this at its core really so different from Microsoft getting people to use Internet Explorer through their OS monopoly?

    1. Re:Bad precedent by npslider · · Score: 2

      Doesn't Oracle own the patent on Solitaire?

      I see a flock of lawyers placing pre-orders for new yachts in the near future...

    2. Re:Bad precedent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this at its core really so different from Microsoft getting people to use Internet Explorer through their OS monopoly?

      No it's not, but I think our righteous indignation should not forget lawmakers and the people who uphold the law. They are the ones facilitating this cronyism in the first place.

      Planet Starbucks indeed.

  4. "tap to play" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get the fuck out of here with this "tap" bullshit. Windows 10 is full of "tap this" and "tap that" too. I'm sitting down at a desk using a computer that has a keyboard and a mouse, there isn't anything to "tap."

    1. Re:"tap to play" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know... I'm tapping my pen on the desk, and it isn't doing a fucking thing.

    2. Re:"tap to play" by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      I had a coworker who taught intro to computers in evening classes at a community college 15 years or so ago.

      On more than one occasion he had a student get confused by the concept of "Right-Click with the Mouse" they would try to *write* "click" using the mouse.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:"tap to play" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, except your Mom.

    4. Re:"tap to play" by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      That's a unique one. The closest to that I get is a user who, when I asked her to right-click, said, "Oh, I call that opposite click."

      I told her that was inventive, but nobody else used that term, and started to move on. "So when you right-click ..."

      "When I OPPOSITE click!" she jumped in, and persisted on continuing to call it that.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  5. As an homage to the movie "Wargames" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can also Google Search "shall we play a game", and it launches Tic Tac Toe.

    1. Re:As an homage to the movie "Wargames" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like clicking "I'm feeling lucky," Hell, this has been there for years.

      I'm surprised that their html isn't formatted in such a way as to RickRoll the world.

  6. Lame!!! by npslider · · Score: 1

    I won't be impressed until a fully interactive holographic version of Pokemon Go is projected from my display after I think about performing a Google search on LOL cats.

    I once played the single player version tic-tac-toe on paper for 24 hours straight, I always won. I'm considering going pro.

  7. Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I've never bitched about a Slashdot story before, but this is bullshit.

    There are many more worthy stories waiting to be posted.

    Google must be giving money to Slashdot for them to post such a fucking useless fucking piece of shit story.

    1. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by ausekilis · · Score: 1

      I've never bitched about a Slashdot story before, but this is bullshit.

      It's not lost on my that you posted as AC... Probably to CYA from all those that would search through your history to call you out an a lie. You wouldn't lie to us, would you?

    2. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, you have an account, so you definitely don't lie (rolls eyes)

    3. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you fucking kidding me, again?

      Fucking troll moderators would mod down Desmond Tutu if they thought what he said went against their personal beliefs.

      Posting AC because of them.

    4. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and I'd fucking downvote Mother Theresa, too, if she too said something stupid.

    5. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bet you are one of those asshole mods who doesn't know the difference between, "I disagree" and a real moderation option.

    6. Re:Are you Fucking Kidding Me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've never bitched about a Slashdot story before, but this is bullshit.

      There are many more worthy stories waiting to be posted.

      Google must be giving money to Slashdot for them to post such a fucking useless fucking piece of shit story.

      It's not that malicious. Ever since the most recent takeover, Slashdot has been upping the frequency of the clickbaity fluff stories over traditional tech stories.

      I get it, there are more people who think they're nerds than there are who are actual nerds, so it makes some sense to cater to the almost-nerds. You know the type: chasing the biggest and most expensive graphics card/processor, could build a computer for friends and family and slap a pirated version of Windows on it, tries Linux once a year just for the 'nerd cred' but then puts it away because it doesn't play enough games and they can't be bothered to figure out how anything works, has a home NAS with 200TB of garbage that will never get watched, thinks NNTP is some super-secret media-warez network, wears a shirt that says, "There's no place like 127.0.0.1" but wouldn't know what a netmask was if it bit them in the face and would fall over if they ever had to access a network without a DHCP server, buys a mechanical keyboard because some website said they were better for FPS games, but only plays them long enough to see how many frames their quad-Titan-X SLI rig can push, and then stays on the Windows Desktop browsing Facebook (and Slashdot!) all night instead of doing anything actually useful or learning some technical skills. Etc. Etc.

  8. Games, games! by jdavidb · · Score: 1

    Great job, Google; keep it up! When will we be getting Settlers of Catan, FreeCiv, and World of Warcraft in our search results?

    --
    Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
    1. Re:Games, games! by npslider · · Score: 1

      What I am waiting for is all the original Nintendo games, in time for the Christmas! ;)

    2. Re:Games, games! by darkain · · Score: 2

      Well, if you're on a device that supports Google Play... https://play.google.com/store/...

  9. Terrible implementation of Solitaire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a terrible implementation of Solitaire. One of the worst I have seen. Even the Windows 3.1 version was better than this. Cards are hard to read and need a border so they don't blend together. Way too small displayed. Missing basic features like double-click to send to side stack, Vegas mode. etc etc.

  10. don't get used to it.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    like all google services, subject to being discontinued at any time, like so many others have been previously.

  11. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You Can Now Play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe while Google's Sells Your Data

  12. Chess by unixisc · · Score: 2

    Toss in Chess. In fact, toss in some other games as well - Risk, Monopoly, Stratego, et al

  13. So, instead of fixing search by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They spend their time on things like this. Nice.

    1. Re:So, instead of fixing search by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Search is perfect. What's there to fix? So now they got this all tossed in

    2. Re:So, instead of fixing search by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is perfect for the average clueless American, but people who do look up for more specific things know how crappy Google results still are.

  14. Can I play the goolge CPU in global thermonuclear by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    Can I play the goolge CPU in global thermonuclear war?

  15. Pic Tac Toe by nuckfuts · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The problem with Tic Tac Toe is that it's too deterministic. It will always end in a draw unless one player does something stupid.

    That's why I made up a variant I call "Pic Tac Toe". On each player's move, they can choose to write either an X or an O. The first person to get any three in a row wins.

    I don't know if anyone else has come up with this, or if it can also be proven to be deterministic. I suspect that it might be, but at least it adds a bit more variety to the game.

    1. Re:Pic Tac Toe by OrigamiMarie · · Score: 1

      There's Order versus Chaos https://www.youtube.com/watch?... , I haven't worked out who has the better deal in this game yet, or how computationally interesting it is. But your game reminded me of it.

    2. Re:Pic Tac Toe by Keybounce · · Score: 1

      Alternatively: Player one places a symbol. Player 2 decides which side to play.

  16. Google Fiber? by maharvey · · Score: 2

    So this is what the former Google Fiber staff was assigned to develop...

  17. Not the Real Thing by rduke15 · · Score: 1

    That Solitaire is not the Real Thing, which is the old Windows 3 to XP solitaire, the only one worth playing, with the Susan Kare design.

    It runs fine under Wine, btw. All you need is sol.exe and cards.dll.

  18. Dinosaur cactus jump by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

    Also recently noticed that there's another easter-egg in chrome thanks to a lot of downtime.

    The Dinosaur that appears when there's no internet connectivity is a game. Click on him and he'll run from left to right to jump over cactii (and pterodactyls)
    A bit of an easy game, and it gets a bit repetitive, but there you go....

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
  19. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion