Gameplay

The Dino game is basic and there lies its appeal. Players must control a pixelated T-Rex automatically running from left to right. The objective of the game is to make the T-Rex successfully avoid obstacles, such as cacti or flying pterodactyls. Pressing the spacebar or tapping the screen on mobile devices makes the dino jump while pressing the down arrow key makes the dino duck. The longer the T-Rex survives, the higher the player’s score will be.

How Well-Received is the Offline Dinosaur Game

Once a player reaches approximately 700 points, the game’s graphics change from a white background to a black background, signaling the shift from day to night. As the game progresses, the color scheme continues to change.

According to Chrome UX engineer, Edward Jung, 270 million games are played monthly across different devices. The majority of the players come from locations with expensive or unreliable data, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Mexico. This doesn’t come as a surprise as Chrome’s Dinosaur game is only accessible when the Internet is down.

There have been numerous updates and enhancements over the years and one of the most notable is the introduction of nighttime mode in 2016. This made the game more visually appealing and challenging for many.

What’s the Inspiration Behind the Game

It’s difficult to say what actually inspired the Google Dino Game. However, it’s undeniable that it was released during an era of never-ending platform games, such as Flappy Bird and Temple Run. Even Microsoft Edge came out with their version, an update added to Surf where players control a surfer collecting powerups while evading obstacles. Just like the offline dinosaur game, there are two ways to access it, when the browser is offline and by going to edge://surf.

An Endless Game with An End

Contrary to the game’s definition as an endless runner game, it does, in fact, have an ending. The game is considered completed once a player reaches a score of 99,999. However, this is an almost impossible feat. Only a handful of people have been able to finish with such a score. If you’re one of them, you can consider yourself a member of an elite group.

The game was designed to reach its maximum score after about 17 million years of playtime, in reference to how long the T-Rex existed before it was wiped off the face of the Earth.