How To Play 'Where's Waldo' In Google Maps
It's April Fools' Day, and that's always a popular time for Google, the always whimsical ubiquitous corporate megalith. And since map integrations are among the company's favorite gags, this year we're seeing a familiar face that, in retrospect, it's surprising we haven't seen before. Google is running a little Where's Waldo game inside of Maps all week, and all you've got to do is open up a Google Maps window on your browser to see Waldo waving on the left side of the screen -- give him a click and you'll start playing.
What follows is a much more straightforward experience than some of Google Maps' gags in the past: you see a little Waldo icon in a place and then tap on it, which brings up a page from one of the classic books. Then you mouse around -- it's actually a bit easier than with a book because you've got zoom to work with. Waldo is in there, and you can find his buddies too if you feel like it. But once you've found him you can go to a new location, with a new picture: the map screen just sort of loads the new place instead of asking you to find it. Less of an AR game and more of a menu, at the end of the day.
It's a bit disappointing because Google has done much better with these integrations in the past. A few weeks ago we saw Mario Kart, before that we've seen Pac Man playable in map screens -- in 2014 we even had the opportunity to find Pokémon hiding inside the app, a gag that eventually led to Pokémon GO. It's not hard to imagine something more elaborate here: maybe a series of hints that would have you scouring the globe and zeroing in on the bespectacled wanderer's location.
Google has upped its commitment to using maps for AR games ever since the release of Pokémon GO, announcing a partnership with game engine Unity to allow other developers to create similar games, one of the earliest of which will be themed around Ghostbusters. Where's Waldo would fit that mold pretty handily, and who knows? Maybe someone will decide to run with the idea. It's worth noting, however, that Pokémon GO itself migrated off of Google Maps to Open Street Maps last year.
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