How to play the Chrome dino game, step by step

To play the Chrome dino game, open Chrome, type chrome://dino in the address bar and press the space bar; the T-rex starts running and you jump with space or the up arrow and duck with the down arrow. Once you have the hang of it, Rex Run on Mayavoo is a free 3D runner built on the same idea that you can play in any browser tab.

Step 1: open the game

There are two ways to reach the game, and both work in Chrome:

1. With no connection. When a page fails to load and Chrome shows its offline screen with the small dinosaur, press space.
2. With a connection. Type chrome://dino into the address bar and press Enter. Google says this page was made so people could play without going offline, and that it includes an arcade mode that fills the whole window.

The second route is the handy one: you can play any time without switching off Wi-Fi.

Step 2: learn the three moves

The dinosaur runs by itself. Your job is timing. Cacti come in from the right, and you clear them with a jump. Anything that needs you to go under it calls for the down arrow instead.

Step 3: survive the speed-up

The game gets faster the longer you stay alive, which is where most runs end. A few habits help:

• Watch ahead, not at the dino. Your eyes belong on the right side of the screen, where the next obstacle appears.
• Use short taps for small jumps. Since holding the key longer means a higher jump, a quick tap keeps you low and lands you sooner, ready for the next obstacle.
• Do not jump early. At high speed, the urge is to jump the moment something appears. Wait until it is close; an early jump often comes down on the obstacle.
• Go full window. The arcade mode on chrome://dino gives you more screen and fewer distractions.

How far can you go? Google's Chrome team, who built the game in 2014, said they set it to max out at about 17 million years, roughly the span the T-rex lived on Earth. No one is reaching that on a lunch break.

Step 4: try a 3D take

When the side-on run starts to feel routine, Rex Run is the next game to open. It is a separate game on Mayavoo, not something Google makes, and its creator describes it as the offline dino run crossed with Subway Surfers in a 3D world. The screenshots show the dinosaur from behind, running along rail tracks across a desert. Controls are the arrow keys, and it lists desktop and tablet as devices.

Mayavoo is a free site for browser games from independent creators. There is nothing to install and no account needed to play. The team checks each game before it goes live, games run in a sandboxed frame, and ads are kept out of play time.

If you would rather stay in Chrome's original, that is a fair call when you are offline, since Rex Run is a web page and needs a connection to load. Phones are another case where the original fits better, because Rex Run's page lists only desktop and tablet.

Step 5: keep it fresh

Two easy ways to keep the habit from going stale:

• Switch between the 2D original and the 3D version so your timing does not settle into one rhythm.
• Look through Mayavoo's runner games when you want something different that plays the same way.

Readers who follow the tools behind the web will find more how-tos in the claudegpt.si guides section.