Originally appearing in a video game, the term "do a barrel roll" has become a popular catchphrase and an interesting Google Search Easter egg
Over the years, Google has introduced various Easter eggs in its search field. One of these is the "do a barrel roll" Easter egg, where the page flips 360 degrees when you type this query on Google Search bar. While many Easter eggs have been discontinued, the "do a barrel roll" Easter egg continues to be available on Google Search.
How to do a barrel roll on Google search
For folks who may not be aware of Google Easter eggs, these are special codes that Google uses to introduce some fun element in everyday browsing. From a user's perspective, seeing the "do a barrel roll" in action is quite easy. You only have to type "do a barrel roll" on Google search bar and press Enter. You have to type this without the double quotes. Once you do this, you will see the entire page flipping over a full 360 degrees.
Even the positioning of various elements on search results changes, something similar to what usually happens with anyone doing a barrel roll in real life. As per reports, the "do a barrel roll" Easter egg was introduced with Google search in early November 2011.
Origin of “do a barrel roll”
Interestingly, there is another similar Easter egg, which creates the same 360 spin of the webpage. This alternative barrel roll search is "z or r twice". You have to type this without the double quotes on Google search bar. These barrel roll Easter eggs are linked to the 1997 Nintendo 64 game Star Fox 64 (known as Lylat Wars in some regions). In the game, the character Peppy Hare (voiced by Rick May) repeatedly shouts the line to the player (controlling Fox McCloud) during a sequence with enemy laser turrets.
He tells them to perform the maneuver for temporary protection/deflection of fire. This was executed by players by double tapping the Z or R button on the N64 controller. This spins the Arwing (spaceship) and grants a brief shield effect. By understanding the origins of "do a barrel roll" and “z or r twice", you can get a better idea of how these Easter eggs were created.
How "do a barrel roll" makes the page spin 360 degrees
Google uses CSS3 animations and transforms (specifically rotating the page body via keyframes from 0° to 360°) to execute the barrel roll on the page. As per reports, this trick was first created by a software engineer. He used it to primarily entertain users while showcasing modern browser capabilities (CSS3 animations without needing Flash or heavy scripting).
It is important to note that "do a barrel roll" Easter egg will work only on modern browsers that support CSS3 animations and transforms. It may not work on older Internet Explorer browser versions. Soon after it was launched, the "do a barrel roll" Easter egg became hugely popular. It was widely reported by leading media outlets.
When you "do a barrel roll" on Google, you might also come across other related results or links to mirrored/fun variants. Variants or extensions such as sites that allow multiple spins have appeared online. However, the core Google effect remains a single clean 360-degree rotation.
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