Google releases fun new Lunar cycle game

Today, Google released a new Doodle featuring an interactive strategy game based on the phases of the moon, called Rise of the Half Moon.

It's a turn-based card game where your aim is to score more points than the computer. Points are won by matching pairs of cards, or, to reach higher scores, building a chain of cards in the sequence of the phases of the moon (pictured at the bottom of this post). The aim is to complete a set of three levels to "reach the moon", and receive a wildcard that can be used in future levels. The game then continues in sets of three levels, with each set of levels getting harder.

You can play the game here.

Later versions of the game

Update (21st November): To mark November's third quarter moon, Google have issued another version of the game today. You can play it here.

Update (22nd December): Google have now released a third edition of the game.

Update (23rd January): Google have now released a fourth edition of the game.

Update (21st February): Google have now released a fifth edition of the game.

Update (19th March): Google have released their sixth edition of the game.

As the above updates illustrate, one full lunar cycle is almost exactly one month long - 29.5 days to be exact. In fact, the word "month" has the same origin as the word "moon".

Phases

The "Half Moon" refers to the moon being half-illuminated on 24th October, actually making it a Third Quarter moon, the seventh out of the eight phases in the lunar cycle. All eight phases of the 29.5-day lunar cycle are illustrated below.

The eight phases of the Moon. Source: NASA [1]

Credits / Useful Links:

[1] https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/ - a NASA article on the phases of the Moon.

[2] https://www.moongiant.com/calendar/ - a moon phase calendar that I find useful.

[3] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon/ - the Google Doodle game "Rise of the Half Moon".

[4] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon-november/ - the second game, released in November.

[5] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon-december/ - the third game.

[6] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon-january/ - the fourth game.

[7] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon-february - the fifth game.

[8] https://doodles.google/doodle/rise-of-the-half-moon-march/ - the sixth game.