YouTube easter egg lets you play Snake while clips load (video)

No, not Metal Gear Solid's Snake. We're talking about the Snake that was popular before the smartphone was a twinkle in the industry's eye. Google has imbued YouTube videos with an engaging new easter egg that lets you play the apple-chasing game while your video stream buffers -- simply mash your keyboard's up and down arrow keys during most any clip to increase YouTube's time-wasting potential tenfold. What's that you say -- your internet connection is so ludicrously fast that videos play instantly? Ah, my lucky friend, let us introduce you to YouTube's 4K mode. Or, for a special treat, hijack the footage we've provided after the break to get your meta-giggles going.

[Thanks, Alan]

[Ninetysix Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:12AM]

LOL....played snake on my old Nokia phones back in the days.

[Joseph9307 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:40AM]

@Ninetysix


"Snake.....SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKEEEEE!!!!"

[liftedngifted1 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:42AM]

@Ninetysix INSTRUCTIONS

1.) Go to a video in the gaming category.

2.) Pause the video just as it begins to load.

3.) Before the video can finish loading, push the UP and LEFT arrow keys at the same time while the video is still paused.

4.) Enjoy

[NuklearPanda Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:44AM]

I did fall for the title.. I thought I could play MGS. :(

[LANmine Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:53AM]

@Joseph9307 LOL I imagined someone screaming that in joy at their N900 while playing the easter egg

[manofchao5 Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:14AM]

@Ninetysix
sry but i dont like it as much as pac man
the snakes speed is set way too high when you just started off

[Charles Nguyen Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:18AM]

@liftedngifted1
up+left worked on a random piano vid I was playing and it keeps playing, just wish it didn't move the vid back in time though

[albinomexi Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:52AM]

!

[MicrosoftOwns Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:52AM]

@Ninetysix

stupid. maybe they could spend more time making the site not look hacked together with googles shitty programming. guess it coincides with the ugliest mobile OS, android

[R94N Posted Jul 25th 2010 2:15AM]

@Ninetysix I still do, since I have a crappy old Nokia phone still

[kamikazeshrimpy Posted Jul 25th 2010 5:45AM]

@liftedngifted1 i think you can also just push the left key and it will work.

[jlx31 Posted Jul 25th 2010 6:24AM]

@Ninetysix
Direct link to working youtube video where you can play a live game of snake!
http://bit.ly/bGm98L

[monkfishbandana Posted Jul 25th 2010 7:48AM]

@Ninetysix

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out, and it's only picky but it's wrong! As long as you have the new-style glossy player then the only thing you need to do is hold the LEFT key while the PLAYER HAS FOCUS. That is all. As long as you click anywhere on the Flash frame you can keep the video playing while you do :)

[TheAmazingWJV Posted Jul 25th 2010 11:05AM]

@Ninetysix

I remember this game as Nibbles, it ran in Basic.

God I'm old.

[athanasios7592 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:29PM]

@liftedngifted1 yyou only have to press either the left, up, or down keys once.

[ksinf Posted Jul 25th 2010 5:50PM]

@liftedngifted1 Here's a video with a non-distracting solid black background that the easter egg can be played on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RzTXFF0OYE

Oh and it's also got the greatest music ever.

[kchase731 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:13AM]

i do love that google pays tribute to snake, pac-man and things of tech past

[Juggernaut408 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:14AM]

@kchase731 CAYATE!

[R94N Posted Jul 25th 2010 2:15AM]

@kchase731 Yeah, retro is great!

[Professor Hubert J Farnsworth Posted Jul 25th 2010 6:05AM]

@kchase731
I love all things which Google does; I'm probably still going to love them even when their robots are destroying the world.

[Juggernaut408 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:14AM]

nice

[Cameron Posted Jul 25th 2010 8:08AM]

@Juggernaut408

Start playing snake while watching this video... it's like Inception all over again.

[eDan Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:19AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0m1XmvBey8

[JeremyBenthem Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:39AM]

@eDan
don't need 4K just pause any video as soon as it begins to load and hit an arrow key

[Coke Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:20AM]

Tabbed as "time waster".. well said.

[PedoJokerBear Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:21AM]

you can also press pause and do it.

[paul34 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:26AM]

Is this YouTube's way of covering up their pathetically slow load times?

[liftedngifted1 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:32AM]

@paul34 No this is YouTube's way of covering up your pathetic Internet Provider's MB/s speed

[deliteguy Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:08AM]

@liftedngifted1
Go fios!

[DefPoet Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:28AM]

@deliteguy
Booo cable providers other than cablevision

[paul34 Posted Jul 25th 2010 11:47AM]

@liftedngifted1

Considering that it downloads at an average of around 113 KB/s, even though every other file downloads at my max speed on my connection - 10x more - I doubt it is my ISP. It's just Youtube. They've gotten better the past few days, however.

[zuht Posted Jul 25th 2010 4:47PM]

@paul34 No kidding. I can stream Netflix HD all day long, but Youtube frequently gives me problems.

[Myth of Echelon Posted Jul 25th 2010 5:14PM]

@liftedngifted1 I believe it's 'Mbps' rather than 'MB/s'. They dont measure download speeds in MegaBytes per second, they measure them in Megabits.

There's a difference

[Ender Fedaykin Posted Jul 25th 2010 11:28PM]

@Myth of Echelon

I measure it in MB/s. But then I also give people directions in cubits, so maybe I'm alone in this.

[Fdo35 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:34AM]

Is this actually serious? It doesn't work at all.

[liftedngifted1 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:35AM]

@Fdo35 Yes it works

[deadfire55 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:39AM]

@Fdo35 start pushing as soon as page starts loading

[Xcharles718 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:37AM]

Video loads a little too quick for me
Optimum Online Ultra
Max-100mbps
Avg.-91.66mbps

[DefPoet Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:24AM]

@Xcharles718
in other words: we hate you :P

[Xcharles718 Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:34AM]

@DefPoet
$100/mo but $300 activation fee. Get a %50 discount since bro is an employee so its down to $50.

[DefPoet Posted Jul 25th 2010 4:59AM]

@Xcharles718
Rage !!!!!!!!_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

[R2D2 The droid Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:42AM]

That's what you get when geeks design stuff. FUN. I love Google.

[Shalabi Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:31AM]

@R2D2 The droid Makes for a good distraction whilst they steal all your data.

[ramifications Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:47AM]

When I try it, it just moves the video seek bar around. Any ideas?

[Rami98 Posted Jul 25th 2010 12:56AM]

My video also loads too quickly with at&t elite ddsl. 6mbs down 1 up but it never actually reaches 1 up. Also I'm typing this from my new droid x that I luckily got from costco. I got the first one from the box of shipment which only had sseven in it. I'm living my new droid and it really does.

[Xcharles718 Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:36AM]

@Rami98
"does" it cook?

[keyrol Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:10AM]

who could forget the days of Snake on old brick-like nokia phones?

[lnm4444 Posted Jul 25th 2010 8:45AM]

@keyrol The good old days. A Nokia 3210 with snake. Party like it's 1999!

[keyrol Posted Jul 25th 2010 9:34AM]

@lnm4444 the 3210 was also a total idiot-proof, indestructible phone. the kinda beast you'd take with you on solo hike around the world, if only it had satellite reception and quadband :p

[slipdisc Posted Jul 25th 2010 1:15AM]

Play a game while it loads? Damn, how long does it take to load? I get almost instant viewing using youtube. I suppose slower connections might take a while to load but, DAMN, long enough to play a game? Seriously? Seems more gimmicky than necessary.