Ever been amused, intrigued or downright shocked by the way Google auto completes some of your queries? Google Feud is the game for you then.

An online modified version of Family Feud, this game has taken the internet by storm since its launch in March 2015, with some gamers on Youtube going so far as to claim how it ‘hates’ them.

The rules are simple (but the game is not). You can pick from four categories to predict how Google would autocomplete a query: Culture, People, Names and Questions. You have three chances to guess the top 10 ways a particular query is completed. The more common your suggestion, more are the points you are awarded, ranging from 1000 to 10,000.

A good way to pass time when bored, you’d say. But the game isn’t as easy and straightforward as it seems. Human beings are intelligent and interesting creatures, and unsurprisingly, their various diverse musings and ideas are reflected in some of the top searches. If not anything else, this game provides an unparalleled understanding of the intricacies of the human mind.

For example, giraffes are apparently ‘gay’, ‘fake’, ‘awesome’, ‘dumb’, ‘selfish’, ‘heartless’, ‘four different species’, ‘cool’ and everything else on earth. But the most obvious one – ‘tall’ – doesn’t even feature among the top 10 searches. People often wonder what would happen if they touched an elf, whether or not they can mail a potato and if the government can control the weather.

What would one expect to be the most popular way to complete the query “is my bird”…? By now you can guess it’s something pretty wacky. Definitely not ‘sick’ or ‘happy’ or ‘healthy’. Lo and behold, the top search ~ “is my bird a terrorist?” Don’t believe me? Go check it out yourself.

However, in spite of enlightening one about the things that go on in the mind of their fellow beings, the game doesn’t allow players to compare how well they did at guessing the thoughts. There’s no leaderboard which players can climb up to reach the top.

The game is unending, and there is no ultimate prize to be won or records to be broken. All in all, it’s an addictive game which requires one to think totally out-of-the-box, and is a great stress buster.

Coordinator, Class XI, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, New Jersey, USA.