T-Rex Runner



The T-Rex Runner game is an easter-egg game that can be played when a user is browsing Chrome offline. It is a simple infinite runner. The T-Rex character is known as Lonely T-Rex. "How long does it take to beat the game?

We built it to max out at approximately 17 million years, the same amount of time that the T-rex was alive on Earth… but we feel like your spacebar may not be the same afterwards."

- Edward

Origins
T-Rex Runner was initially released on 6 September 2014. Its creators were Edward Jung, Sebastien Gabriel, and Alan Bettes.

Design and Development
The creators of the game wanted to create a fun design for when Chrome couldn't connect to the internet. The idea of the game as an easter-egg within the “you-are-offline” page was born in early 2014. The project was known as Project Bolan.

Ideas for the dinosaur to do things such as kicking and roaring came early-on, but it was decided to stick to the basics, with simple running, ducking, and jumping.

How to Play
From September 2014, tapping the dinosaur (in Android or iOS) or pressing or  (on desktop) launches the game in which the player controls a running dinosaur by tapping the screen (in Android or iOS) or, on desktop, pressing  or  (to jump) or  (to crouch) to avoid obstacles, including cacti and pterodactyls. Pressing buttons to jump for different amounts of time will result in differently heighted jumps. Pressing while in the air will cause the dinosaur to fall faster.

Updates
In June 2015, pterodactyls were implemented in the game as another obstacle to avoid. They appear later in the game.

In 2016, another feature was added to the game. When the player reaches 700 points the game begins to switch between day (white background, black lines and shapes) and night (black background, white lines and shapes). Reaching a score of 900 will switch the color scheme back to day, and the switch back and forth will occur at further subsequent milestones.

Trivia

 * In 2018, the game was played over 3 billion times.
 * It was so popular in education systems and the workplace that the creators gave corporate managers the option to disable the game.
 * Edward Jung has said that it would take "17 million years" to complete the game.