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YouTube Easter egg lets you play Missile Command

A hidden feature on the video site lets you play the classic arcade game. And boy is it hard.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

It's Geek Week over at YouTube, and as such, the video-sharing site has stashed away a host of goodies. The best by far is one that lets you play 1980s classic Missile Command.

To get gaming, start a video playing, click away from the text box and type "1980". Then the game appears above the video, and you're off and shooting. Watch out though: lose all your gun turrets and the video will be destroyed.

I'd forgotten just how hard Missile Command was.

Google has a few more geeky Easter eggs up its sleeve, too. Type "use the force Luke" into the YouTube search bar, and everything will start wobbling around a bit, and you'll be able to drag the screen around. It's not exactly like using the force to be honest, but the thought was there. Search for "beam me up Scotty", meanwhile, and the results materialise as if beamed up to the USS Enterprise.

Type "Fibonacci" in the search bar, and a series of clips will appear representing the mathematical sequence. And go for "ponies", and a series of ponies will gallop across the screen. Well, why not?

YouTube has pulled out all the stops for Geek Week, even bringing back Knightmare. Kryten from Red Dwarf is also in the line-up, along with Warwick Davies -- who played an Ewok way before he was in Life's Too Short -- and an entire channel dedicated to Doctor Who.

The video site's parent company Google is well-known for its Easter eggs. Type "do a barrel roll" into the search engine and fans of 90s video games will get a pang of nostalgia. Google also made it a white Christmas a couple of years ago. Ahhh.

What did you think of Geek Week? Was your geek appetite sated, or were you left clamouring for more? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.