Despite being created with no internet connectivity in mind, the dino game has become one of the most played and cherished online titles. The game pays homage to the time before humans invented technology, when dinosaurs roamed the planet. The pixelated aesthetic of the game is influenced by the error graphics displayed by Google Chrome, which depict a dinosaur in the event of an internet outage. The developers of the game intended to provide players with an entertaining and interesting way to kill time as they waited for their internet to return. In order to enable everyone to play the game on any device or browser, they also sought to make it as easy to use as possible.
One of the most famous and identifiable dinosaurs in popular culture is the T-Rex, who serves as the game's primary character. Marc Bolan, the lead singer of the 1970s hit rock group T-Rex, is also mentioned in relation to the T-Rex. Because the game's creators are admirers of the band, they gave it the codename "Project Bolan" while it was being developed. The T-Rex dinosaur is running through a desert, simulating the prehistoric setting from millions of years ago where dinosaurs once thrived. The general aesthetic of the game is matched by the desert's minimalistic and antiquated design.
The goal of the game is to survive as long as you can by dodging obstacles that crop up along the route. Pterodactyls, which are also extinct animals that coexisted with dinosaurs, and cacti are among the barriers. The up arrow key or the spacebar can be used to jump over the immobile cacti in order to dodge them. The down arrow key can be used to duck under the flying pterodactyls to avoid them. On mobile devices, the dinosaur jumps when you press the screen, but it ducks when you hold it down. The game is simple to pick up and play because it lacks any further features or controls.
As the player advances through the game, the difficulty level rises. It gets increasingly more difficult to respond and dodge the obstacles as the dinosaur's speed and their frequency rise. In addition, the background color of the game alternates between bright and dark every 700 points thanks to a day-night cycle. This modifies the barriers' visibility and contrast, adding variation and difficulty to the game. The player must begin from beginning each time they launch the dinosaur game because it lacks levels and checkpoints. Reaching a high score, which appears in the upper right corner of the screen, is the only incentive to play the game. The player's running distance in meters determines their score. Even for seasoned players, the game's highest score of 99999 meters is exceedingly difficult to attain. The game resets back to zero meters whenever this score is obtained.
The game was first made available as an easter egg in Google Chrome version 39 in September 2014. An easter egg is a joke or hidden feature that requires a certain action to be taken or code to be entered. In this instance, the easter egg can be found by entering "chrome://dino" in the address bar of the browser or, in the event of an internet outage, by noticing a dinosaur icon. The phrase "There is no Internet connection" or "Unable to connect to the Internet" shows on the page with the icon. The user can start the game and begin playing by pressing the icon or using the spacebar. When there is an internet connection, the game can also be played by opening it in a full window by putting "chrome://dino" into the URL bar. Any device or browser that supports Google Chrome, such as desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, can be used to play the game. Additionally, the game works with a number of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Additionally, the game may be played online on a number of different websites that host it.
Three Google Chrome developers, Alan Bettes, Sebastien Gabriel, and Edward Jung, collaborated to build the game. They work as a member of the Chrome UX (user experience) team, which is in charge of creating and enhancing Google Chrome's user interface and functionality. They saw that many users were bored and frustrated when they lost their internet connection, so they came up with the idea for the game.