A number of Google Chrome users are probably somewhat familiar with the web browser’s dinosaur game. The screen, which appears when a user’s internet connection is lost, allows users to play a run and jump game featuring a T-Rex by simply pressing the spacebar. After four years of the game being around, its creators have finally decided to reveal the reasoning behind its theme.

In celebrating Google Chrome’s 10th birthday, Google interviewed the game’s designers. In this interview, Sebastian Gabriel of the Google Chrome design theme stated that the dinosaur theme came from the fact that losing internet connection meant going back to “prehistoric ages”– the time before Wi-Fi was so easily available – whereas the cacti and desert were already a part of the previous iteration of the page.

The dinosaur theme doesn’t stop there though. When the game was in development, it was given the codename “Project Bolan.” The name Bolan is a reference to Marc Bolan, who incidentally is the lead singer of the classic rock band T-Rex. It is also interesting to note that the dinosaur has been programmed to run for near 17 million years – the same time amount of time scientists have stated the T-Rex lived on the earth.

Google also revealed that a total of 270 million “dinosaur run” games are played each month across multiple devices, with most users coming from countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and India, where mobile internet issues are a real problem.

Nobody ever likes to be disconnected to the internet but it is interesting to know that quite a bit of thought has gone into what could technically be considered the world’s most popular game. If you should find yourself (unfortunately) playing Chrome’s dinosaur runner any time soon, be sure to be on the lookout for the birthday cake and party hat – the two new additions made to celebrate the web browser’s anniversary.

Source: The Next Web