Magic Cat Academy

Lore & Background

The Magic Cat Academy series was created by the Google Doodles team, with the first game released on October 30, 2016. The protagonist, Momo, is directly based on a black cat of the same name owned by Google Doodles artist Juliana Chen, who was responsible for the art, storyboard, and gameplay conceptions of the first game and involved in production for the sequels. Following a Halloween-themed Google Doodle in 2015, the team opted for a cat protagonist who defeats enemies using spells, coming up with various story concepts. Chen pitched ideas including a cat brewing soup that raised the dead and a dog-and-cat duo fighting vacuums, but the team settled on a cat attending a wizardry school and rescuing it from ghosts.

The first game takes place at the wizardry school, the second in the deep sea, and the third in the earth's atmosphere. Each game consists of five levels with escalating difficulty, ending with different multi-combo bosses. The player controls Momo by drawing shapes matching symbols on ghosts using a computer mouse or touchscreen. Momo has five lives per level, and progress is saved if all lives are lost. The games were released on October 30 of 2016, 2020, and 2024, respectively.

The fictional character Momo also made appearances in a few other Google Doodles, namely the Halloween 2017 Doodle and Doodle Champion Island Games. The series was well-received by writers for its engaging and challenging gameplay along with its cute and spooky art style and creative design.

Reader's Guide

The Magic Cat Academy series represents a notable example of Google Doodle interactive games, combining holiday celebration with engaging browser-based gameplay. The trilogy's release every four years created anticipation and allowed for evolving settings—from a wizardry school to the deep sea to the earth's atmosphere—while maintaining core mechanics of drawing symbols to defeat ghosts. The series' protagonist, Momo, based on a real cat owned by artist Juliana Chen, became a recurring character in other Google Doodles, indicating its cultural impact within the Google Doodle ecosystem. The games were praised for their addictive gameplay, cute and spooky art style, and creative design, demonstrating how browser games can achieve both entertainment and artistic merit. The development process, including scrapped story concepts like a soup-raising-the-dead plot and a dog-and-cat vacuum-fighting idea, illustrates the iterative creative process behind the final product. The series' legacy includes its role in popularizing interactive Doodles and its influence on subsequent Halloween-themed Google Doodles.

Did You Know?

• The first game originally had the player decide which friends to save, affecting the ending, but this was scrapped.
• The final boss of the first game was inspired by Baby Bowser from Yoshi's Island.

Origins & Creative Development

The Magic Cat Academy trilogy did not emerge from a single flash of inspiration but rather from a deliberate creative pipeline within Google's Doodles team. After producing a Halloween-themed Doodle in 2015, the team set out to craft something more interactive for the following year, settling on the concept of a feline sorceress who battles enemies through spellcasting. Multiple story directions were explored before the final vision took shape. Central to that vision was the character of Momo, a black cat whose name and likeness were drawn directly from the real pet of Juliana Chen, the artist behind the project. Chen was responsible for the original game's artwork, storyboarding, and gameplay design, and she remained involved in the production of both sequels. The series adopted a four-year release cadence, with each entry debuting on October 30—the evening before Halloween—first in 2016, then in 2020, and finally in 2024, cementing it as a recurring seasonal tradition on Google's homepage.

Gameplay Mechanics & Design

At the heart of every Magic Cat Academy entry lies an elegant yet demanding interaction loop. Ghosts drift toward Momo, each bearing one or more geometric symbols above its head. The player must trace those exact shapes—using a mouse or a touchscreen—directly over the spirit to dispel it. When a ghost carries multiple symbols, they must be rendered in strict left-to-right order, adding a layer of sequencing pressure. Beyond basic vanishing, certain symbols trigger bonus effects: a lightning bolt unleashes area damage, a heart restores one of Momo's five lives, and a circle (introduced in later installments) grants a one-hit shield. Each game is structured around five progressively harder levels, each capped by a multi-combo boss fight. A running score appears in the upper-right corner while a kill tally tracks along the bottom of the screen. Should Momo exhaust all five lives, the game preserves the player's position at the failed level. Upon finishing a full entry, players can share their results through social media or email and follow a link to a Halloween-themed search query.

Narrative Arc Across the Trilogy

The trilogy charts a clear escalation of both setting and stakes. In the 2016 original, a ghost gang led by Marshmallow invades Momo's wizardry academy, seizing her spell book and abducting her anthropomorphic friends. Momo battles through the library, cafeteria, classroom, and gymnasium before confronting the swollen Marshmallow atop the school tower on a broomstick. The 2020 sequel drops the action into the deep ocean, where Marshmallow has commandeered Captain Sugar's ship and his ghosts possess marine creatures—an immortal jellyfish, a school of bogues, a vampire squid, and an anglerfish. Momo, aided by a friend-supplied air bubble, fights through an underwater fissure and a possessed volcano, ultimately launching Marshmallow into space. By 2024, the now star-fueled Marshmallow sends his army skyward. Momo ascends through the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere, battling possessed natural phenomena including a golden-crowned flying fox, polar stratospheric clouds, red sprites, and constellations before the final confrontation.

Reception & Cultural Footprint

Critics and writers consistently praised the series for a combination of 'addictingly' engaging challenge and a visual identity that balanced cuteness with spookiness. The creative design of the spell-drawing mechanic, the hand-drawn art style, and the lighthearted yet persistent difficulty curve were singled out as standout qualities that set the Doodles apart from typical browser games. Momo's popularity extended well beyond the three main entries. The character crossed over into the 2017 Halloween Doodle and later appeared in Doodle Champion Island Games, demonstrating that the Google Doodles team recognized her as a recognizable mascot with lasting appeal. The four-year spacing between releases also gave the series a ritualistic quality—players could anticipate a new Momo adventure every few October 30th, turning a brief homepage interaction into a small annual event. For many, the games became a personal Halloween tradition, a few minutes of charming, challenging play tucked into the middle of a workday or school day.