On our 25th birthday, we wanted to celebrate our users and what they searched for the most in the last 25 years. We saw a unique opportunity to do this in one of our most beloved properties, the Google Doodle. Our idea was to create an epic Doodle experience where people all over the world could participate in a scavenger hunt to find dozens of most searched things, from Pikachu to Leonardo DaVinci.

To pull this ambitious work off, our team worked closely with an illustration partner to create 2000+ unique individual characters and moments. It was important that the world feel rich and diverse, so that everyone could see themselves reflected in what we were building.

We wanted to create a game that was intuitive and easy to play for all users and all abilities. One of our challenges was to make sure that people who use screen readers would be able to enjoy the game too. Working alongside our trusted testers, we customized the game’s alt-text and created unique sound clues that triggered as you navigated closer to hidden moments.

We also developed custom technology that would handle the loading of the illustration so people could visit from any device with any internet speed and enjoy finding their favorite most searched icons.

And for the biggest and most easter egg-obsessed fandom in the world, Swifties, we created an extra special experience in honor of the most searched songwriter. By working together to assemble a series of clues hidden inside the Doodle, Taylor Swift fans were able to unlock a private website with exclusive most searched content made just for them. Of course Swifties went wild for this, lighting up the internet, and helping to make The Most Searched Playground most talked about Doodle of all time.