Play Google Rubik's Cube
👇 Scroll down to start the experience!
Quick Facts
Click the Rubik's Cube Doodle and watch the cube open into a 3D puzzle. Try to solve it!
2014-05-19
Restored
(Discontinued by Google)
Try the Easter Egg
The Original Easter Egg
How It Started
On May 19, 2014, Google turned its homepage logo into an interactive Rubik's Cube to celebrate the puzzle's 40th anniversary. In Google's own write-up, the company positioned the doodle as part of a broader Rubik's Cube moment that also included Chrome Cube Lab and the Beyond Rubik's Cube exhibition.
What It Did
The first screen showed the Google letters mapped onto a rotating cube. Click it and the doodle expanded into a full 3D puzzle with a move counter, a help overlay, keyboard-friendly controls, and a certificate sequence once you solved the cube.
You could drag outside the cube to rotate your view, drag a face to twist it, and keep working until every side lined up again. It felt less like a one-click joke and more like a real browser puzzle.
Impact and Reach
Coverage quickly focused on both the engineering and the date. News write-ups highlighted that May 19 nodded to the cube's 519 quintillion possible states, while outlets such as Wired treated the doodle as one of Google's more technically ambitious homepage tributes because it delivered a real 3D cube, not just a flat animation.
That mix of nostalgia, challenge, and browser wizardry made it easy to share and replay. It also introduced many people to Chrome Cube Lab, the related set of experiments built around the same cube work.
Its Discontinuation
The homepage moment was a one-day Doodle. Google later kept an archive path for the interactive build, but the preserved iframe copy appears to have disappeared around mid-August 2021.
The Restored Experience
What’s Different Here
This page keeps the original homepage-style intro, the click-to-expand handoff, the full 3D cube, the move counter, the help bubble, keyboard play, and the solve certificate. We also preserve the original iframe-based structure instead of flattening the doodle into a loose imitation.
Where we do deviate, it is in small user-facing helpers: restart, Auto Solve, Single Step, and Back Step controls replace the dead legacy share path and stay tucked away until you need them.
The Easter Egg Experience
Open the page, click the cube logo, and start twisting. Drag outside the cube to rotate your view, drag a face to turn it, or switch to keyboard input once the interactive mode is live.
If you get stuck, open the optional solve controls to auto-solve the cube, walk through the solution one move at a time, or undo a step before finishing for the certificate.
How to Try It
- Click the button above to load the restored Rubik's Cube Doodle.
- Click the rotating cube logo to expand into the full 3D puzzle.
- Drag outside the cube to rotate your view.
- Drag a face to twist it, or use the keyboard controls once interactive mode is ready.
- Solve the cube for the certificate, or use Auto Solve, Single Step, and Back Step when you want help.
Google connected the Doodle to a broader Rubik's Cube celebration that included Chrome Cube Lab and the Beyond Rubik's Cube exhibition. Those projects treated the cube as something kids and grown-ups could turn, test, remix, and understand from a few new angles.
This page keeps that browser-born feeling. The cube still begins as a Google-style homepage logo before it opens into the larger puzzle, so the little moment of surprise stays with the game.
Final Thoughts
From the first spinning logo to the final certificate, this restored Doodle lets the 2014 browser cube click, twist, and solve again.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What was the Google Rubik's Cube Doodle?
It was an interactive Google homepage Doodle released on May 19, 2014, for the 40th anniversary of the Rubik's Cube.
The logo first appeared as a rotating cube marked with Google colors and letters. Clicking it opened a full 3D Rubik's Cube you could manipulate directly in the browser.
It stood out because it was a real puzzle, not just a decorative animation, and it connected to the broader Chrome Cube Lab experiments built around the same cube technology.
How do you play this restored Rubik's Cube?
Open the page, click the cube logo, then drag outside the cube to rotate your view and drag a face to twist it. Once the interactive mode is live, the original keyboard-friendly controls are available too.
If you want help, use the added restart and solve controls. Auto Solve finishes the cube, Single Step advances one move at a time, and Back Step undoes a move so you can study the solution at your own pace.
