Do a Barrel Roll
"Do a barrel roll" is a Google easter egg: search the phrase and the entire results page rotates a full 360° once, then settles. The line comes from Peppy Hare in Star Fox 64 (1997). Press the button below to see the effect.
Updated
Try it on Google
- Open google.com.
- Type do a barrel roll and press Enter.
- The page rolls a full turn and settles. Search again to repeat it.
The same thing happens with z or r twice, and — because Google's spell correction is generous — with most misspellings of the phrase. It does not happen for "do a barrel roll 10 times" or "do a barrel roll 100 times"; those searches just return pages like this one.
Where the phrase comes from
In Star Fox 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997), your wingman Peppy Hare shouts "Do a barrel roll!" whenever enemy fire is incoming, because the move — performed by tapping Z or R twice — deflects lasers. He says it constantly, and the line became one of gaming's most quoted. Technically the maneuver is an aileron roll, which pilots and the internet have been pointing out since 1997.
How Google's version works
Google added the easter egg in November 2011. When the query matches, the results page includes a style rule that applies a CSS transform to the document's body — a rotation from 0° to 360° over roughly one second, with an easing curve so it accelerates and slows like a real roll. Nothing is reloaded; the page you are reading is simply turned. The demo above uses the same one-line animation on a panel instead of the whole page, which is kinder to anyone who is scrolling.
- Trigger phrases
- do a barrel roll · z or r twice
- Launched
- November 2011
- Effect
- One 360° rotation of the results page, ≈1 s
- Origin
- Star Fox 64 (1997), Peppy Hare
- Works on mobile?
- Yes
More tricks in the same family
- Askew (or "tilt") — the page leans a few degrees instead of spinning.
- Thanos — half the results turned to dust (retired in 2023).
- Google Gravity — everything on the page falls down.
- The full list of Google's hidden games, including the ones you can actually play.
Frequently asked questions
How do you do a barrel roll on Google?
Go to google.com, search for "do a barrel roll" and press Enter. The results page rotates 360 degrees once and comes to rest. It works on desktop and mobile in any current browser.
Why does "z or r twice" make Google spin?
In Star Fox 64 you performed a barrel roll by pressing Z or R twice. Google treats that phrase as the same request, so searching "z or r twice" spins the page just like "do a barrel roll".
Can you do a barrel roll 20 times, or 100 times?
Not on Google itself — the official easter egg spins exactly once. Fan-made pages recreate the trick with a chosen number of rotations or an endless spin, and this page's demo can be clicked as many times as you like.
Where does "do a barrel roll" come from?
From Star Fox 64 on the Nintendo 64 (1997), where wingman Peppy Hare repeatedly tells you to "do a barrel roll!" to deflect enemy fire. The line became a meme long before Google borrowed it.
How does the effect work?
It is a CSS animation: Google adds a style that rotates the page's body element by 360 degrees over about one second with a transform. There is no video and no trick — the same technique powers the demo on this page.
