Activate the hidden minigame ‘Hot Air Balloon’

This minigame from Google Play follows in the wake of the popular Dino Run, from Google Chrome, appearing when you run out of internet connection in the store. Not only can it be a failure of the connection itself, it can also happen that, even receiving a signal, the store suffers some fall. But if you want to play at a time when you have a connection, you must simulate the lack of internet by activating Airplane Mode, for example. Otherwise, we will not be able to activate it.

What is the ‘Hot air balloon’ minigame?

Hot air balloon is a very simple game with a marked style worthy of an arcade game, where you must move the balloon from one side to the other, by keeping your finger pressed on the screen and moving to the left or right. Also noteworthy is the retro design of the title, with pixelated graphics that are very reminiscent of Dino Run. The objective is to achieve the highest possible score before the hot air balloon is destroyed.

To earn points, you must survive as long as possible and collect coins. As you progress through the game, speed upSo what starts out as a very accessible game soon turns into a hell of a race. To help you, you have three items or power-ups that you can collect during your flight, passing over them with the hot air balloon, and that can make the difference between exploding or exceeding your previous record. They are as follows:

• Colored ball– Gives you invincibility for a few seconds, so you can step over the spikes whenever you want. While active, your balloon is colored.
• Magnet: attract the coins around you, so you don’t need to go to them to capture them. They come to you.
• Arrow: It is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, as it is visually similar to a coin, and it slows down the speed of the game.

How to activate the Google Play minigame

As we have already mentioned, the main thing is to leave the smartphone completely inoperative with the internet connection, either with Airplane Mode or by disabling the functions from the notification panel. Once that is done, open Google Play, where you will see a notice that “You have no connection” and the drawing of a satellite that has fallen asleep. Just below, a new section appears that was not there before: Play while you wait. If you have no connection, but Google Play does not show you the notice, do a search or select a section from the bottom bar of the store to update the screen.

The truth is that Google Play today shows not just one, but three games to choose from: Hot air balloon, Solitaire and Snake. The first is the easter egg included within Google Play, while the other two are borrowed from Google Play Games, and will open as part of Play Games. The other two are so classic that it is not necessary to explain what they are about, being a great detail to include them.

If you have followed all the above indications, but the section on Play while you wait, you may have an old version of Google Play. A good way to force this easter egg to show you is to upgrade to a newer version of the Play Store, as this version, in APKMirror. This is the summary of the steps:

• Make sure you have an updated version of Google Play, and if not, download the latest version
• Disconnect your mobile from the Internet, for example, by activating airplane mode
• Open Google Play. If necessary, do a search for the error message when not having connection
• In Play while you wait, press »Play in Hot air balloon».