FORGET ALL ABOUT chocolate easter eggs, the real ones you should be looking are online.
In this context, Easter eggs are treats hidden within programmes and services that wouldn’t be discovered through normal means.
First appearing in games as far back as the 80s, the concept naturally expanded into the online world, and it’s no surprise that numerous sites have hidden little treats to amuse you. Here are a few to get you started.
If you do still have easter eggs left over, you can be scoffing them* while trying these out. It’s ok, we won’t judge (although we’ll be somewhat envious).
The Konami Code
Named after the games company that created it, the Konami code has not only been adopted by games, but numerous sites.
For those of you not familiar with it, press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A to activate it. Just to give you a taster, visit any of these sites and try it out.
Vogue.co.uk (make sure to do it more than once)
Buzzfeed
Digg.com
GeekandHype has an old one that will appeal to those who enjoy badly translated games.
Wired.co.uk
Wordpress
Hidden away in the one place you would never think of looking. If you visit the Terms of Service and scroll down to ’17. Disclaimer of Warranties’, it will reward you with a treat.
Wikipedia
It’s probably unsurprising that Wikipedia has an easter egg hidden in its page dedicated to explaining Easter Eggs. Just hover your mouse pointer over the hedgehog, let the excerpt come up and then click.
IMDb
Visiting the This is Spinal Tap page will allow you to rate the movie up to eleven. Incredibly subtle but anyone with a passing knowledge will appreciate it.
If there’s one thing the search engine giant throws its back into, it’s pointless jokes (just look at its April’s Fool collection just to get an idea). Most of these work on desktop so keep that in mind when trying them out.
- Search for ‘Do a barrel roll’ for a Star Fox reference.
- Search for ’tilt’ for the page to… well you know.
- Play the classic arcade game Breakout by image searching ‘Atari Breakout’
- Search for ‘loneliest number’ for Google to calculate the answer.
- Search for ‘recursion’ and wait for the joke to eventually dawn on you (after you click on the suggested search term numerous times).
- While Pac-Man on Google Maps is no more, you can play the Google Doodle dedicated to the iconic character instead. You can also play two-player on this version using the WASD keys.
- Type in ‘Zerg Rush’ and defend your search page against an incoming horde of Os.
- Put ‘(sqrt(cos(x))*cos(400*x)+sqrt (abs(x))-0.4)*(4-x*x)^0.1′ into the search bar and see what happens.
- If you’re on Chrome and have no internet connection, you can play an endless running game with the dinosaur on screen.
Android
If you go to Settings > About Phone and start tapping Android version, you will trigger an animation based on the version of Android you’re using. If you’re one of the few to be using Lollipop, holding down on the lollipop itself will unlock a Flappy Bird-style game.
Hema
Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with the Dutch store as it has one of the best easter eggs on any site. Go to this link, and move your mouse pointer over the blue cup on the top right and sit back.
404 error screens
Ok, you can argue that these aren’t exactly easter eggs, but considering most websites don’t want you to see a 404 page (it means something’s gone wrong), they’re worth including.
- Bloomberg goes for a really subversive version of the 404 screen (Also, special mention must go to its 500 error page).
- This 404 screen allows you to draw your own creation in a box (and you get to see what other people have drawn).
- This amazing diagram from AubinAndWills.
- We’ve no idea what this is about, but hey, the music is catchy and that’s all that matters.
Although it’s not around any longer, the old 404 page from Firespotter Labs is worth watching just for the punchline.
Black Acre Brewing
We’re not sure if anyone ever clicks on the ‘I’m under 18/21′ icon when asked for their age, but if you do here, you will get an unexpected surprise.
*Yeah, we used the word scoffing. What about it?
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