Google Feud is an online game that takes advantage of our love of strange Google Autocomplete suggestions and Family Feud clips, bringing them together in one highly addictive package, writes Laura Stampler for Time. When you begin playing the game, you are asked to choose one category from culture, people, names and questions, before filling in what you believe to be the top 10 autocomplete words to follow the phrase displayed on screen.
Same concept as successful TV show
It’s surprisingly tricky to second-guess the sometimes bizarre workings of Google Autocomplete, but by following a successful formula the game manages to keep you interested. America has been captivated by Family Feud since its inception in 1976, and Google Feud borrows the same format.
The internet sensation was created by writer Justin Hook using Google API. It takes real questions and results directly from Google autocomplete, and the answers are not always what you might expect.
The options which appear for “Obama is from…” are particularly depressing, with top autocomplete results including “outer space” and “which country in Africa.” The game warns players that “certain results may be offensive and/or incomprehensible.”
Google Feud: tougher than you might expect
If you get an answer wrong you will receive a big red X, and if you get three answers wrong you’re out. If you do strike out then you’ll be shown the correct answers, which may infuriate or intrigue you.
Of course you could always cheat by opening up another tab and performing the searches there, but that takes away the challenge. The answers are surprisingly difficult and on the rare occasion that you do get one right you will be left with a sense of achievement, but perhaps one that simply shows that you spend so much time online that you have become in-tune with the thoughts of the Internet.
As always with online games, the Google Feud sensation probably won’t last long before something new comes along and steals its limelight.
