If you have been reading the story so far, you know that the Google Logo has had some rather mysterious UFO related logos. Google has always had a penchant for changing their logos on holidays and on significant anniversaries. But these have been very obscure references and have also been accompanied by cryptic codes coming out of Twitter. There is a lot of guessing and speculation going on, but I think I've gotten it all figured out.
Maybe.
Or not... On September 21st, Google came clean...
Google Comes Clean
(Updated: September 21st, 2009) I'm going to leave the rest of this article since it was fun to play along at home. This morning though, Google came clean and gave us an answer to the UFO riddles along with a new logo (right). The answer to it all is that today (the 21st) is H.G. Well's birthday - as was previously suggested in many of the forums and blog comments around the web last week.
I don't know if it's the puzzle lover in me or the egoist rearing his ugly head, but I really find this solution to be quite unsatisfactory. The only thing that actually pointed to H.G. Wells in the clues was the second Tweet that gave the co-ordinates. The images, the search terms the logos linked to, any clues that might have been in the selection of dates - none of those pointed to H.G. Wells. I'm not suggesting that my guess at the solution below should have been the answer - I can live with being wrong. But, come on Google... If you give us six "real" clues (2 images, two search results links, and two coded tweets) more than one of them should actually point at the solution.
Oh well, it was fun. And H.G. Wells is certainly one of the great sci-fi writers of our times. Happy Birthday!
My Incorrect Guess/Reasoning Below
Our Story So Far
As of this writing (on September 15th, 2009) there have been two mysterious logos posted. If my puzzle solving skills are up-to-speed, this means that we are halfway through and that there will be two more pieces to this puzzle before the answer is revealed. (I'll update the table below as the pieces are added).
| Logo | Date Published | The Solution | The Missing Letter |
 |
Sept. 5th, 2009 | Sept 5th 1989 was the release date of Zero Wing Arcade Game See My Report On This... |
O (go_gle.gif) |
 |
Sept 15th, 2009 | In 1979 (Presumably on Sept. 15th) The War of the Worlds Arcade Game was released. See My Report On This... |
L (goog_e.gif) |
| ???? | Sept 25th, 2009 ??? | ???? | O? |
| ???? | Oct. 5th 2009 ??? | ???? | G? |
As you can see, I have made a few predictions as to dates. And I have also tried to predict the next two letters that will be "stolen" from the logos. (I'm fairly sure on the letters, I'm not at all sure about the order they will come out - if G comes out next, my prediction for the final one will be O, instead).
(If this table confuses you and you haven't been playing along at home... check the two "See My Report" links above to get the full story...)
Playing The Letter Game
So far, the "solutions" to the individual puzzles have been rather obscure video games. It would make sense (this is a very popular time of year for video game releases) that this trend will continue. But beyond that, there is the "missing letters" game that is being played. The letters are both there in both images, but the "L" in the second is being made by the truck/car/hay bailer? and not the UFO. And in the first one, the O is being abducted. You can also see by the file name that there is a specific letter removed from the file name, too.
So far, we have the letters "O" and "L".
The SEO forums and blogs are all abuzz with speculation about what is going to be spelled out here. I've heard "OLD" and several other ones - all with OL in order. What I haven't seen is anyone looking at the dates we have (for the solutions, not when the logo was posted). The first was in 1989 (the O) and the second was in 1979 (the L). If you put those in chronological order, you'd have "LO" for a letter combination.
Using only letters in the word "Google" the most probable solution will be that they will steal the other "O" and also the "G".
I don't know what order the theft will come in, but the second O will likely be for some kind of (alien themed?) video game released in 1984, or more recent like either 1996, 1999, or even maybe even 2004. (Google "round" anniversaries 10th, 20th, 25th - not something off like 12th or 27th - thus the 5 year increments). Most likely the next O will be one of the higher years in my list above.
The G will be a date that falls in between the two O's. again - will be one of the years listed above, but it's hard to say without seeing what the second O is.
When you work it all out the with the missing letters put into chronological order of the events that the logo and the twitter code commemorates, you will have the word "LOGO".
Google's New Logo Will Be Revealed on October 15th 2009?
I'm not sure if the "LOGO" that this puzzle is pointing us toward will be revealed at the same time as the last clue (October 5th) - or if they will let us puzzle it out for another 10 days and actually reveal it on the 15th. My gut tells me they'll want to make us wait it out and speculate and keep buzzing about all of this as long as possible. So that's why my money is on the 15th.
Google will likely keep up with the 10 day pattern... So on the 25th of this month, and the 5th of next month - be looking for two more special "UFO" themed logos and two more coded Tweets that will give us clues as to what it all means. They will most likely give us a few more video game release dates from history. On one of the logos a "G" will be missing and it will be an anniversary that is between the anniversaries on the two O's. There will be another "O" stolen, too - and the answer to that riddle will fall either after all three anniversaries or, between the L and the G. (There's no telling yet if we have the first or last O).
I love puzzles.
Now we just need to see if I got it right!
And if I am right - remember where you heard it first! 
