Google is celebrating April Fools’ Day 2019 in hilariously retro fashion – by giving users of its Google Maps app the ability to play an old school Snake game in a number of cities around the world.
For a limited time only, Google will let you navigate around select global cities – Cairo, São Paulo, London, Sydney, San Francisco and Tokyo, as well as an option for traversing the entire world – in a game inspired by the highly addictive 90s phone classic Snake.
Rather than play as a snake, though, you swipe either a train or bus (depending on the city you choose) around the map, collecting passengers and passing landmarks for points as you go.
It’s no joke, either, as Trusted Reviews can confirm that the game is up and running in its version of Google Maps for iOS.
To activate it, simply tap the menu icon in the top left-hand corner of the Google Maps app next to the search bar, and you’ll see ‘Play Snake’ as a new option at the bottom of the list.
Then, simply hit ‘Start’ and select your destination, and you’ll be playing. You might notice that the Google Maps Snake game starts at a faster speed compared to classic Snake, which kicked off with all the pace of a tortoise, so it’s a bit of a challenge – at time of publication this particular journalist had managed a mighty score of ‘7’.
But it’s still great April Fools’ Day fun and there’s even a standalone site where you can get your Google Maps Snake game on, if your boss doesn’t approve of you staring at your smartphone all day.
Introducing the game on its blog, Google wrote: “Starting today, you can play a twist on the snake game in different locations across the world – including Cairo, London, San Francisco, São Paulo, Sydney and Tokyo – right from Google Maps.”
“Once you’ve selected a city, start picking up as many passengers as you can as your train travels around the world – stopping everywhere from Big Ben, the Great Sphinx of Giza to the Eiffel Tower,” the search giant added.
Given it’s something of an April Fools’ Day gag, the game is only available to play this week, though Google has hinted that the standalone site could live on if it proves popular.
Share your top Google Maps Snake game score with us on social media @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.