Dear Customers, We regret to inform you that the Ardell Gray Magic product is currently out of stock. Gray Magic is a popular and highly sought-after product that helps to cover gray hair and blend it seamlessly with your natural color. Unfortunately, due to high demand, our current stock has been depleted. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Our team is actively working to restock the Ardell Gray Magic and we expect to receive new supplies soon. We urge you to check back on our website or visit our store in the coming weeks for updates on availability.

Google Doodle brings back a magic cat for a fun Halloween game

Around the time of Halloween in 2016, Google delivered one of the best Doodle games of all time: Magic Cat Academy, in which users swiped to make a feline with a magic wand cast spells and get rid of ghosts coming to haunt it. On Friday, the day before Halloween 2020, we got the sequel, in which Momo — yes, the cat has a name — goes underwater to fight ghosts one more time. It feels like even more of a challenge than the last round, but that also may be because I played with a mouse on my laptop this time and used my phone the first time. Enjoy! [jwplayer CFZqSh9q-q2aasYxh]

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Google’s new playable Doodle brings back Halloween’s cutest cat wizard

Tasha Robinson leads Polygon’s movie coverage. She’s covered film, TV, books, and more for 20 years, including at The A.V. Club, The Dissolve, and The Verge.

Strap in for the extensive backstory on Google’s latest playable Halloween Doodle, which has a history stretching all the way back to the long-ago before-time year of 2016.

You’re a cat. You’re also a wizard. There are ghosts, and you fight them with magic.

Okay, that didn’t actually take very long.

Image: Google via Polygon

This year’s Doodle is a direct sequel to 2016’s playable Magic Cat Academy Doodle, which sees a small black cat named Momo defending her school and her classmates against a series of ghosts taking over the classrooms and kitchen. In that game, you fight ghosts by drawing the symbols above their heads, which translates to Momo waving her wand in the appropriate gesture and firing off an anti-ghost spell. Momo is silent (makes sense, since cats don’t talk), but she’s still a charismatic character who faces her spirit adversaries with a grim little frown of determination, and celebrates every completed level with a cocky little wand-twirl and grin.

The new 2020 Doodle uses the exact same mechanic and gestures. Only the setting has changed — after Momo defeated the magically enlarged boss-ghost in 2016, it fell into the ocean and is now possessing sea life, a volcano, and even seemingly the water. The new version offers a couple of minor twists — a jellyfish shield and a spray attack to supplement the lightning bolt you probably shouldn’t be using underwater. But mostly, the only changes are the setting, and a cat-fish captain ally who sails you into dark waters.

Still, for those of us who replayed the 2016 game, the 2020 sequel is a lovely Halloween treat. Google brought Momo back in 2017 for a short film about a lonely ghost seeking her friendship. But while 2018’s spirit-collector Doodle game was ridiculously addictive, and 2019’s trick-or-treat advent calendar was mildly informative, they abandoned Momo. It’s nice to have her back in action.

For fans of these games, it’s worth checking out Google’s posts about the Doodles, which include the dev team credits, early gameplay art, details about the real creatures that inspired this year’s antagonists, and some playful development notes:

The original concept for the game involved a magic cat making a soup that was so good, it raised the dead. Connecting soup to Halloween proved too abstract, so the team shifted to the idea of a wizard school. This opened the door to a more robust world filled with interesting characters and paw-some themes.

Momo The Mage Is Back
A Halloween Game From Google

Happy Halloween folks! 'Tis the season to break out all those classic survival horror series, right? A little Silent Hill here, a bit of Resident Evil there, maybe something a bit more obscure like ZombieU if you feel like dusting off the WiiU. There’s always a plethora of strong titles ready and ripe for playing with the lights off while you scarf down fun size Snickers and KitKats.

If you’re feeling the weight of 2020 however, it’s understandable if you could use something a little more light-hearted. With election day just a few days away and the current uptick in COVID cases, maybe your nerves are a bit to shocked for hardcore spooks. I’ll admit, something about playing a zombie apocalypse game during a literal pandemic is just a bit too much for me.

Just click on your google browser and jump right in!

Thankfully, if you’re in the need for something that’s a bit more treat than trick (or you’re just killing time before Animal Crossing’s Halloween festivities tonight), today’s Google Doodle is a sequel to their 2016 Halloween game!

Welcome To Magic Cat Academy!

Ok, I’ll admit, I might be biased in my love of this game. You play as a little black cat named Momo, who is a mage. Given the fact that I have a black cat who is named after the black mage from Final Fantasy IX, I squealed the first time I saw this particular Google Doodle. Still, after my initial cat-mom geek-out was over, I found this little Halloween game to be fun and rather addicting!

Momo is a student of the Magic Cat Academy, and the game begins when some mischievous ghosts break into the school and steal the master spellbook. Momo must make her way through the five levels of the school to defeat the army of ghosts and get the book back. Gameplay is simple - using the touchscreen of your particular device, simply draw the symbols over the head of each ghost to vanquish them. You want to take them out before the ghosts touch Momo, or she’ll take damage. Once her five hearts run out, it’s game over.

It’s a simple enough premise, but as the game progresses, the ghosts will have more complex symbols over the head, as well as move at different speeds. It challenges the player to pay attention to these patterns as they appear, in order to take them out as quickly as possible. Honing in on the patterns and drawing the right symbols at the right time will allow you to take over several ghosts at once, or knock out multiple symbols on several ghosts, in order to get rid of them faster. There’s also a lightning bolt special move that pops up which is worth take advantage of, as it will land a hit on each enemy.

Requiring astute attention and quick reflexes, it delivers that old school feeling of depleting your quarters in an arcade to get to the next level - except it’s a free mini game that's here just in time for everyone being stuck inside during what should be an awesome holiday.

The 2020 installment picks up right where the 2016 game left off - the big bad ghost that Momo defeated falls onto a boat and plunges into the sea. Deep down into the water they go, along with all of the ghost minions. Momo sees this and literally dives into action, with one of her friends casting a magic bubble around her so she can breathe until the water. These dastardly little ghouls are possessing the fish and making them evil! It’s up to Momo to free them, and help the captain of the boat, whose ship just sank!

The gameplay is the same, but it does up the ante a bit on difficulty. The last boss was particularly tricky! However, this second installment of the Magic Cat Academy presents five more levels of wand-waving, magic casting action. There’s also a new special move - when a jellyfish with a circle pops up, drawn the circle and it will give you shield, protecting against damage.

A Very Welcome Halloween Treat

This Halloween certainly wasn’t what we expected when 2020 began, but it’s nice that Google put out a sugary, sweet treat for us today. If you’re game, break out your smartphone or tablet, and help Momo stop those ghosts!

Here’s the 2016 edition, with a bit of background on the development of the game (as well as the real Momo, a black cat belonging to one of the artists, who served as a muse!). When you’re ready for part 2, click here!

Shanna Wynn-Shirreffs

Writer

Shanna’s cat is named after a Final Fantasy character. He is a tiny furry black mage named Vivi. That’s all you need to know. Ok, there’s more. A self-proclaimed “pop culture anthropology nerd,” Shanna’s had a love affair with video games her entire life. In college, she put her passion for gaming and feminism towards her degree in Mass Communication, focusing her senior thesis on women & video games. She digs dipping her toes into the tabletop world as well. From RPGs and open world epics to old school beat-em-ups and farm simulators, games rock her world.

Shanna’s cat is named after a Final Fantasy character. He is a tiny furry black mage named Vivi. That’s all you need to know. Ok, there’s more. A self-proclaimed “pop culture anthropology nerd,” Shanna’s had a love affair with video games her entire life. In college, she put her passion for gaming and feminism towards her degree in Mass Communication, focusing her senior thesis on women & video games. She digs dipping her toes into the tabletop world as well. From RPGs and open world epics to old school beat-em-ups and farm simulators, games rock her world.

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Our knowledgeable staff will be happy to assist you in finding the best alternative to the Ardell Gray Magic. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to replenish our stock as quickly as possible. We value your loyalty as a customer and look forward to serving you again soon. Thank you for choosing our store for your hair care needs. Best regards, [Your Name].

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How Ardell Gray Magic became a cult favorite and its availability challenges