Dinosaur Game

The Origin of the Chrome Dino

The Dinosaur Game was created in 2014 by a team of Google Chrome designers — Edward Jung, Sebastien Gabriel, and Alan Bettes. The idea was to make something fun for users to do when they lost connection to the internet. After all, few things are more frustrating than the “No Internet” message — so why not lighten the mood?

The developers wanted to make a game that was minimal, lightweight, and worked even without any internet access. They decided to add a tiny interactive dinosaur to the “No Connection” page. Why a dinosaur? Because it humorously symbolizes a “prehistoric” time before Wi-Fi existed.

In the early design stages, the team jokingly called the project “Project Bolan,” a nod to Marc Bolan, the lead singer of the 1970s band T. Rex. The name stuck internally, and the character’s official name became the Chrome Dino or T-Rex Runner.

How to Play Dinosaur Game

Playing Dinosaur Game is as simple as it gets — and that’s part of its charm. When your internet connection drops in Google Chrome, a small dinosaur appears with the text “No Internet.” Just press the spacebar (or tap on mobile), and the game begins. The T-Rex starts running automatically across a desert landscape filled with obstacles like cacti and flying pterodactyls.

Your goal is simple: avoid obstacles for as long as possible by jumping or ducking. The longer you run, the faster the game becomes. There’s no ending — it’s an endless runner, testing how long your reflexes can last before you crash.

The controls are intuitive:

• Spacebar or Up Arrow: Jump over cacti.

• Down Arrow: Duck under flying pterodactyls.

• Tap: Jump (on mobile devices).

While the game may seem simple, it gets harder quickly. The speed increases over time, and the color of the background even shifts between day and night after certain milestones, keeping the experience visually fresh despite its minimalist design.