If there’s anything I can be thankful about in my youth, it’s that I never recorded how much time I wasted playing Starcraft. As an adult I am all too aware of how much time I have wasted, and continue to waste, playing Starcraft 2. Fortunately, the game is linked to on my desktop, where I can hide it with full screen browsers as I work throughout the day. I can ignore the game while I work, and return to it when I am finished. This plan works out for most people, but someone at Google decided that was unacceptable, and brought forth a Zerg Rush of their very own onto Google Search.
In Starcraft, the Zerg are known for being able to rapidly produce troops to be sent into battle. You can quickly overwhelm another player in the game if you can deploy enough of the smaller Zerg troops to take out the fledgling enemy base before they can build troops of their own. This tactic is commonly referred to as the Zerg Rush, and is a constant threat when playing against Zerg even in Starcraft 2.
In celebration of that tactic, Google has made a mini game that starts when you search for the words “Zerg rush” using its search engine. Your screen will immediately become overrun with tiny gold and red o’s that seem bent on destroying your search results. You can attempt to hold back these aggressive symbols by clicking rapidly on the enemy until their health bars fade and they disappear. More enemies will come at you from every side of the screen until your results are finally all destroyed. In a mocking sense of victory, the enemies will group together to form a “GG” for you, and then allow you to submit your score to Google+.
Google is no stranger to neat little Easter eggs or mini games, the most notable in recent history was the PacMan Doodle that offered a playable version of the classic game. As results come in, the highest score that I have seen is 1122 with an APM (actions per minute) of 3321. I’m sure more people will continue to play the game throughout the day, so be sure to submit your score if you earn a higher one!
