Remember the Dinosaur Game on Google Chrome? When users visit the browser when the Internet is down, they will see a pixellated dino on their screen showing the message that there was no connection. If you press Space or the Up arrow on your keyboard (on desktop, or just tap on the screen if you’re using a phone), a secret game will unfold on your screen, where you will have to help the little dino jump over hurdles. While this was an easter egg (not meant to be found easily), the game garnered a huge popularity, with about 270 million games being played monthly back in 2018.
Well, it appears that Meta-owned Instagram has taken a leaf out of Google’s and have come up with an easter egg of its own. In March this year, Instagram rolled out a hidden emoji Pong-inspired game without much fanfare, which can only be accessed on DMs.
How To Access The Hidden Emoji Game On Instagram?
To activate the game, all you need to do is head over to the DM window of any friend you chat with on Instagram and take one simple step.
Send a message with a single emoji of your choice. Now, once the emoji is sent, all you need to do is tap on the emoji and et voilà! You will see your emoji bumping around the corner of your screens, just like the original Pong game from the ‘70s, except this time around, the ping pong ball is replaced by the emoji you chose.
As the emoji bumps around, you will notice a black bumper at the bottom of your screen, which you move left to right using your fingers. Your goal would be to stop the emoji from falling to the bottom of your screen, using the bumper to paddle it away.
As you last longer and score more, the game will get increasingly harder, offering a better challenge for those who seek it.
Here's a video from LoFi Alpaca explaining how to play the game:
Instagram Hidden Emoji Game: 3 Things To Keep In Mind
For starters, this is just a single-player game. So, you can’t face off with another player in real-time. Of course, you can always take a screenshot of your High Score and share it with your pals to challenge them. This is the age of social media after all.
Secondly, any emoji can trigger the minigame. Smiley, cats, fruits, flags, arrows — the choice is all yours.
And lastly, unlike Google’s Dinosaur Jump, you won’t be able to access this game when you are offline.
Oh, in case you were wondering, the game is only accessible on a smartphone or tablet. The desktop version doesn’t support the easter egg as of yet, as it does not support DMs on the client.
So go ahead, Instagram just gave you yet another reason to spend even more hours on the app. Although, in my personal opinion, since there is no element of multiplayer, the game will lose its charm once you get a hang of it. Of course, this might just turn into a trend as more and more players start sharing their top scores online. Only time will tell.