Google Kicks Off First Multiplayer Game, Where You’ll Play Soccer With Others

Google is getting a kick out of World Cup fever and has launched its first-ever multiplayer game, pitting fans around the world just as the games in Qatar are keeping eyes everywhere glued to their television screens.

From now, users can join a match under their favorite team and work with other FIFA World Cup fans to score the most goals. Giving spectators a chance to dabble dribble across the field like the stars, Google’s ‘Mini Cup’ concludes just like the real tournament, and the scoreboard stops when the final buzzer sounds off in the official games.

Image via Google

‘Mini Cup’ is more hidden than many other mini-games that Google has integrated into its Doodles, but all you’ll have to do to locate it is to look up phrases like “world cup” or “world cup qatar 2022” from the mobile version of the website. In addition to the World Cup schedule in the results page, a tiny soccer ball will appear at the bottom right corner, and tapping on it will pull up the game.

As Google’s Vice President of Engineering Rajan Patel announces:

Starting today, you can Google [world cup] on your phone and tap the soccer ball to compete with fans in our first multiplayer game. See if you can help your team score the most goals! Saudi Arabia is in the lead right now, huge upset in the works?!? pic.twitter.com/ZIdyXXNmEX

— Rajan Patel (@rajanpatel) November 18, 2022

In keeping with the World Cup celebrations, Google also created an adorable Doodle of a pair of cleats passing a ball to each other.

Image via Google Doodles

While the Qatar World Cup has been wracked with controversy, the tournament’s rare appearance every four years and the pride audiences have for their teams have kept the spirit high. That hasn’t stopped players from using this world stage to double down on their values, such as their support for LGBTQ+ relationships, which are criminalized in Qatar.

[via Android Police and CNET, images via Google]