The Chrome dinosaur game: how to open it and play
The dinosaur game is the T. rex runner built into Google Chrome since 2014. It shows up when your connection drops: the dino runs, you jump over cacti and duck under birds, and the speed keeps climbing until you crash.
How to open the dinosaur game
- Offline. Lose your connection and open any page in Chrome. Press space or tap the dino to start.
- Any time. Type chrome://dino into Chrome's address bar. It works with or without internet.
- On a phone. The same page works in the Chrome app on iPhone and Android.
How it plays
There is one button for jumping and one for ducking. Cacti come in single and grouped sizes, and later the flying pterodactyls show up at different heights. The run gets faster the longer you last, and every so often the screen flips between day and night colors.
The game was designed by Sebastien Gabriel on the Chrome team. The joke is simple: no internet means you are back in the prehistoric age.
Facts about the dino
The game is built to work with no internet at all, so it stays simple: a few sprites and a few sounds, for jumping, crashing and every 100 points.
- Project Bolan. The game's codename, a nod to Marc Bolan of the band T. Rex.
- The score cap. The score counter tops out at 99,999. Reach it and the count goes back to zero.
Tips for a higher score
- Jump late. At high speed, jumping too early drops you onto the cactus. Wait until it is close.
- Duck the high birds. Low birds can be jumped, high ones are safer to duck under or just run below.
- Hold the down key in the air. On a keyboard, pressing down mid-jump drops you faster, which helps with tight gaps.
- Stay calm at the flip. The day and night switch changes the colors, not the timing.
- Look ahead. Keep your eyes a little in front of the dino, so you see groups of cacti early.
Play it on Roam
More on Roam
Make your own dino run with Roam
Roam is a free iPhone app where you describe a game and it comes back playable. Swap the cacti and the dino for anything you like. Roam is rated 13+ on the App Store.
Try: "endless dino run across a volcano, jump lava and duck meteors, my dog is the T. rex, speed goes up every 200 points"Roam ("Roam - Make Games" on the App Store) is an iPhone app where you play games and make your own by describing them or from a photo. It is free to download and play, and making games works without a subscription; optional Spark and Reality plans and credit packs add more creation. Android: pre-register on Google Play.
Questions people ask
How do I play the dinosaur game without going offline?
Type chrome://dino into the Chrome address bar and press space to start.
When did the Chrome dinosaur game come out?
In 2014, as part of Chrome's no-internet page.
Does the dinosaur game end?
Not on purpose. It keeps speeding up until you crash.
What is the dinosaur game called?
People call it the Chrome Dino, the T-Rex game, the dino run or the no-internet game. They all mean the same runner.