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Google celebrates Frank Zamboni’s Ice Resurfacer with interactive Doodle (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gblzLsDPLkc&feature=player_embedded]

Google’s homepage Doodle for today is an interactive game that puts folks behind the wheel of a Zamboni.

Frank Zamboni invented the Zamboni Ice Resurfacer, also known as a “Zamboni,” in 1949, and today is his 112th birthday. The inventor died of lung cancer roughly 24 years ago, but Google is celebrating his life and invention today because both made hockey games and ice skating practical.

Google often features its traditional logo in various modifications for special events or competitions, and the creative logos have since become known as Google Doodles. Google paid homage to a multitude of holidays and anniversaries in 2012, for instance, and a few of the more notable Google Doodles included the 200th Anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, 161st Anniversary of Moby Dick’s First Publishing, and 107th Anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Today’s Google Doodle shows skaters messing up the ice, as seen in the video above, and it’s Web surfers’ responsibility to resurface the scuffed ice using the Zamboni. Users can navigate the machine with the up, down, left, and right arrow keys or just their mouse.

A more difficult level starts each time the ice is resurfaced, but users also run the risk of running out of gas. So, be quick and efficient. Also, watch out for banana peels or accidentally killing the driver at unsafe speeds by slamming the Zamboni into the arena walls.

Check it out:

In related news: Google announced its sixth-annual U.S. Doodle 4 Google competition on Monday and invited children to illustrate their best day ever as part of the theme. The Internet Giant started a competition six years ago to have students from across the United States design a clever doodle based on a theme. The winning student earns many valuable prizes and a spot on Google’s homepage.

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