Public Readings - London 2012 slalom canoe: Thursday's Google doodle game. And so the Google doodle games continue, with perhaps the week's toughest event so far: the canoe slalom.
Since Tuesday, the search engine has been providing cute little Olympic sports sims in its doodle window, with hurdles and basketball already completed. But they were mere warm-ups for this one. Simply head to the Google homepage, then click on the "Play" icon on the image.
Now, it's all about tapping the left and right cursor buttons to steer your canoe along the snaking river course. You'll need to get through all the gates to avoid penalties – and watch out for obstacles such as rocks and, um, frogs.
The main skill here is in steering, which is achieved by only hitting one of the two buttons until you go in the direction you need. You'll need a steady beat to avoid losing speed, and timing is paramount.
In terms of influences, this game, with its combination of speed and skill, moves away from the simple button bashing classics like Hypersports and toward the more complex multi-sports sims of the later eighties, such as Epyx's Summer Games II on the Commodore 64. We're also heading into the territory of Sega's pretty decent Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
So far, I've managed it in a lousy 25 seconds – you can beat that, I'm sure. As usual, post your scores below and let's see who becomes this week's ultimate doodle Olympian.