oogle celebrates 15th birthday with pinata Google Doodle game

If you’ve been surfing the web since before the Google logo first appeared on a search page, it’s hard to believe that happened 15 years ago. But it did, and Google has decided to celebrate its birthday like it celebrates any other memorable day–with aGoogle Doodle. And this time it takes the form of a game.

If you visit Google’s homepage today, you will be given the opportunity to play a very simple game that sees you take on the role of the second letter “g” from the Google logo. Your task is to hit the hanging pinata star with a stick ten times. As you hit it, sweets are dropped and your score increases. Timing your hits correctly is key to a high score. My best so far is 141.

Although Google has decided today is its birthday, other dateshave been suggested. For example, the company was founded on September 4, it was incorporated on September 7, and the domain name Google.com was registered on September 15. But Google knows best, and September 27 is the date they picked.

As with all the Google Doodles, after today this will join the growing archive of Doodles, which form a mix of static and animated images, videos, simulations, and of course the games. My favorites remain 30th Anniversary Pac-Man and Basketball 2012.