You and the kids can still play Google’s ‘The Great Ghoul Duel’ game for a bit of Halloween spirit

Halloween’s spirit isn’t just about costumes and candies; sometimes, it’s about real spirits! Well, digital ones, at least. More than anything, it’s about sharing fun moments with your family. Life takes a lot out of us, and holidays are a way to rejuvenate, even in small ways to face the day ahead.

What better way to do that than diving into a playful, spooky game? This year, Google’s ‘The Great Ghoul Duel’ returns, well, sort of. It was brought back from the “Google Graveyard” last year (heh, see what I did there? I took your favorite phrase and “incorpserated” it into – okay, you get it), but is still accessible on the web for you and the kids to play together.

In my opinion, it sure beats this year’s Halloween-centric Doodle, which can be accessed by visiting Google.com and clicking the ‘Play’ button at the center of the second letter ‘O’. This year, the company has put together a slideshow showing off trick-or-treating with a vampire, a witch, and a ghost. It’s definitely not as cool as Ghoul Duel, but it will put you in the mood for getting out of the house later tonight!

Initially launched in 2018, The Great Ghoul Duel is a testament to the creativity and talent of Google’s game developers. The premise is simple yet engaging: You and your ghostly avatar team up to collect wandering spirit flames, racing against time and an opposing team. It’s not just about speed though; strategy plays a key role as you dodge opponents looking to snatch your spirits. The game is a delightful challenge, suitable for all ages, and perfect for some light-hearted competitive fun. Google has a knack for keeping things fresh, and last year, it added new achievements to unlock, as well as night vision and speed boost power ups.

Anyway, if you’re interested in the development of this cute little game, you can see over on the Google Doodle Archives that there are early sketches and drafts from the devs, a list of the art and UX designers, engineers, production team and more. There are also some “Boooonus characters”, like Emerald, Moss, Mauve, Amethyst, and more. Let me know in the comments if you check out Google’s Doodles each year – for my son and I, it’s become sort of a tradition to enjoy them, and as I said, The Great Ghoul Duel is still one of our favorites!