404 Tech Support

Google Chrome Experiment makes Super Monkey Ball out of websites

The last Chrome Experiment called Super Sync Sports had you sync your phone with your computer for multiplayer racing, biking, and swimming. This new experiment utilizes your phone’s accelerometer to control a ball as it rolls over a website you specify turned into a maze.

At Chrome.com/maze, you can get started with the experiment. You choose a website and sync your desktop and phone together using the Chrome browser. The website gets rendered as a 3D maze with pitfalls, elevators, and pathways. On your phone, you have two controls, power and jump. Hold down power and tilt your phone so the ball rolls that direction and use the jump button to get over some walls within the website or down to lower levels.

Throughout the page are little glowing dots which you can collect for points. There are bigger glowing orbs you can find which give you even more points. Their locations are designated on a mini-map on your phone.

I tried 404TechSupport and some other sites. Some were pretty flat while others split into multiple levels and were quite complex.

You can play just using your computer keyboard (arrow keys and space to jump) but it lacked the challenge and engagement of tilting with the phone. You can check it out for yourself at g.co/maze