Google doodle doubles as a garden gnome game in honor of Germany’s Garden Day

Today’s Google doodle, an interactive doodle that doubles as a garden gnome video game, is being posted to align with Germany’s Garden Day holiday.

“Look amongst the greenery of Germany’s lush gardens and you might spot a red-capped gartenzwerg, or garden gnome,” says Google on it’s Google Doodle blog: “Today’s doodle — just in time for Garden Day in Germany — celebrates these tiny statues for their big role in German history.”

According to Google, the first appearance of garden gnomes was as early as the 13th century in Anatolia (the westernmost area of Asia), with a re-emergence during the 16th century in Italy.

“The common garden gnome originated in 19th century Germany from the mining area of Thuringia. Here, local craftsmen are given credit for hand-crafting the gnomes as we know them — with shaggy beards and pointy hats,” says Google.

The doodle, which is being displayed on Google’s US home page and most of its international pages, launches a garden gnomes game where players send garden gnomes flying via a catapult. Players collect points by the number of flowers the gnomes are able to spread as they fly through the air.

Before the game begins, players are given the following brief history explaining the early production process for garden gnomes.

Doodler Jessica Yu led the team of 12 that created the doodle. At the end of the doodle garden gnome game, players are given a share icon to post the doodle game on social pages or send via email, along with a search icon. The doodle leads to a search for “history of garden gnomes.”