Ever heard about the parallel universe? Where everything is the same as our earth but reflected. The same thing applies to elgoog.

Google has a reflective website called “elgoog”. Note that this website has nothing to do with the original Google. Let’s get to know more about google mirror.

elgoog.im was developed by Alltooflat just for fun. All to flat is a funny website used for comedy and jokes.

Although this website was created just for fun but it is well maintained throughout the years and several changes are made to it according to the original Google website.

About domain Name

Considering about domain name, we can assume that elgoog name just says its work as google mirror. According to WHOIS the domain name elgoog was registered in 2002 and its expiry date is 26/01/2024. (“WHOIS”  is short form for the question “Who is responsible for this domain name? it is used to get information about domain names. ) The .im domain is the country code of Isle of Man. Which is located in the Irish sea between Great Britain and Ireland.  

Implementation

Google mirror is implemented using CGI script on their server. We request for a page in our browser. Their server opens HTTP connection to the Google server.

It analyzes the content and returns the reflected results to our browser. In some sense, it works as a proxy server between us and Google server.

Google mirror is a 4000-line custom CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script written in PERL. That uses LWP (the world wide library for PERL) library to open URL connection with Google server and read data of resulting web pages.  

History

At first, this search engine wasn’t much popular. When the Government of China blocked Google using its firewall, elgoog came in the picture.

The people of China realized that elgoog was not blocked. As it fetches results from the original Google server, it became a replacement for Google. “we think china’s firewall operator thought that elgoog is a joke that’s why it survived the Great Firewall of China. We have received numerous messages from china’s people thanking us for elgoog” – says Google Mirror FAQ.

elgoog.im provides many services. Some of them are provided by them and some links redirect to original Google websites. links are given in header like YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Images, etc redirects to original Google websites. There are other features provided by Google Mirror. Here they are.

1. Gravity

Like Google, it also has Google gravity. But in the mirror reflection. (If you don’t know about Google gravity see our post about google tricks)

2. Underwater

This feature gives you real feels of Surfing. Search on Google with an underwater effect. You can create waves here by tapping on the water.

You will see Google icon, search box, and buttons floating on the surface. You will get more fish when you press the search button. And coins with ‘G’ written on it,  if you press “I’m feeling lucky” button.

3. T – Rex game

You can also play the T – rex (Google dinosaur game) here. you will a checkbox here named activate bot? if you tick this checkbox computer will play the game for you. Check how much the bot can score for you ;-)

4. Bing Mirror

They have also created a mirror version of Bing. Bing is a search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. Trust me search results of this browser will make you crazy. The domain name of this page is gnib.org. That surely represents the reflection of the original browser.

You will also see a link for Bing images. That has collection of some beautiful wallpapers for you. You can also change the country.

5. Google Terminal

Any programmer would love this feature. The Google terminal shows how Google would have looked in the 80s.

How we would search on Google with Command Line Interface. You can also see how the keyboard was used to be in the 80s.

This feature actually belongs to www.masswerk.at. There are many other links available on this page that you can also visit. I will recommend you to visit “Google60”.

6. Google Guitar

On Les Paul’s 96th birthday Google transformed their logo into an interactive playable guitar. That was also acquired by elgoog. We can use this feature with “Google Guitar”.

We can write chords in the search box and guitar will play that tune. It is written that only using Firefox and IE you can usefully function guitar.

Although we don’t know it still works or not. You can try on your own after reading this article.

You can’t search for anything here. If you click “Google Search” it will search for google tricks. And if you click “I’m feeling lucky” button, it will enter into dark mode.

7. Snake game

Play the classic snake game with elgoog. You get to play that game with traditional music. Like Google Guitar page, you can’t search anything here. And it will enter dark mode if you click on “I’m feeling lucky”.

8. Location

This feature shows you the exact location of your device. Your IP address along with your exact Geographical location. It will give you the exact value of Latitude, Longitude, Accuracy, and Address. Though your location opens in Google Maps.

9. Space invaders

Remember that space invader game we used to play in childhood. We can play that game online on elgoog. It is named “Google Defender” here. Save Google from aliens.

10. Google Pac-Man

To remind your childhood play google mirror’s pac-man game. The most classic arcade game in 1980 is now ready for you to play online.

We’ve seen we cannot search on any page apart for Bing Mirror. In short, elgoog is a website with a collection of some fun tricks as it was said earlier that it was made just for fun. So go through this website once and have fun ;-)

Also see:

• 20 cool google tricks that you’d love to know
• Coronavirus tracker using python
• Secure your current password using python