Google “Play Dreidel” Search Returns Digital Version Of Hanukkah Spinning Toy

Skipping usual holiday-related search decorations this year, Google created a digital dreidel and Santa Tracker to show its holiday spirit.

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google play dreidel easter egg

In years past, Google has decorated its search result pages for the holidays, offering up Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa-themed images for holiday-related searches.

This year, now nearly half way through Hanukkah, there have been no signs of Google’s usual holiday spirit when you search “Hanukkah,” “Christmas” or “Kwanzaa.” When we reached out to ask if the company had plans to do any holiday decorations, a Google spokesperson confirmed there would be no holiday-themed images on search pages, but insisted it wasn’t playing Grinch.

“No, G is not for Grinch,” said a Google spokesperson in an email to Search Engine Land. “We might not be decking the halls of our search results pages this year, but we’re still spreading holiday cheer in a few other ways throughout the season.”

Google shared a link to its Santa Tracker which launched last week and pointed us toward its “Play Dreidel” Easter egg — a digital version of the traditional four-sided spinning toy played during Hanukkah.

Google searches for “play dreidel” deliver an automated dreidel that lets users spin to land on one of its four sides that contain the Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimel, He and Shin.

dreidel easter egg screen shot

Here is a collection of last year’s holiday imagery that was included in holiday-related searches.

Hanukkah Search Images

google-chanukah-decorations

Christmas Search Images

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Kwanzaa Search Images

google-kwanzaa-decorations


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Amy Gesenhues
Contributor
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

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