This morning, I faced a problem you can probably relate to: my internet went out. As many of us working from home would, I scrambled to let my co-workers know and restarted my router hopefully. But, just as my heartbeat started racing, I was met with a familiar dinosaur friend.
As you might know, when Google Chrome loses access to the internet, a dinosaur appears on your screen. If you press space, you can start The Dinosaur Game, a side-scrolling runner game built into the browser. It’s been around for years, but I always forget about it until the Wi-Fi starts acting up and I’m left to jump over and dodge cacti and pterodactyls.
The wait for my internet became easier, enjoyable even. I got a high score of 1415 before I was back at work. I watched as my little dinosaur got faster and faster and more obstacles littered my path. I forgot about the internet being out at all. I was on a mission.
Then, just as I was in the middle of the run, the page reloaded. I was back on Kotaku’s homepage, a visual slap back to reality. It was work time again.
So I thank The Dinosaur Game and its Lonely T-Rex protagonist (no, really that’s what it’s called) for turning an anxious wait into a peaceful respite from the rest of my day. I would say I hope to see you again soon, but I don’t.
