Google I/O 2018 Teased With Delicious Pineapple Cake And Cryptic Puzzles

Who says adventure gaming is dead? Certainly not this editor, who grew up playing classics such as Maniac Mansion, The Secrete of Monkey Island, Space Quest, and the list goes on. And certainly not Google, which turned its interactive Maps service into an adventure game of sorts to promote its upcoming Google I/O 2018 event. It all started with a lightly encrypted message on Twitter.

When the clocked ticked midnight, Google's Developer Twitter account posted a message saying, "Plans are coming along for #io18...," along with a picture with a very big clue in binary.
The binary message points to google.com/io, and it is there where the real fun begins, at least if you are into this sort of thing. If not, you may find the whole adventure rather annoying. Either way, you will need to don you detective cap to figure your way through, presumably to learn ahead of time what Google has in store for its upcoming event.

Going to the above URL plops you in front of a Google building, with a Street level view in Google Maps. From there, you can enter the building and look around. We won't spoil all of the surprises (hit the source link for a complete walk-through), but if you manage to figure you way through a set of doors, you will come across a conference room with a pineapple cake sitting prominently on the table.

Could Pineapple Cake be the name of the next major version of Android? Sure. Will it be? Probably, unless Google is trying to throw everyone off the scent. What we do know is that it will be named after dessert starting with the letter "P," assuming Google sticks with its normal naming cadence.

There is quite a bit to wad through, all of which leads to when Google I/O will take place this year—May 8-10 at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, California.

Thumbnail and Top Image Source: Google