How Google made the I/O 2025 puzzle save the date

This year’s puzzle invites players to manipulate, guide, reflect and split beams of light to illuminate hidden beacons. The gameplay involves strategically placing prisms and mirrors to bend laser beams toward nodes, unlocking new sectors of the map. As players progress, they’ll encounter increasingly complex challenges to open up new worlds, each with its own unique layout and color theme. The ultimate goal is to illuminate a final prism to help reveal this year’s I/O date.

“Prisms and mirrors are integral tools in quantum computing, used to manipulate and analyze light and quantum states,” says Kacey Fahey, a senior product marketing manager who’s helping to plan I/O ‘25. “This year’s puzzle design was inspired by these concepts, challenging players to use reflections and refractions to solve complex puzzles. The game also allows for multiple solutions to each level, encouraging testing and iterating, and repeat playability.”