--- title: Google: Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game description: There once was a time before Gmail. canonical: https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-14T18:30:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:18:45.272Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game og:description: There once was a time before Gmail og:url: https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game twitter:description: There once was a time before Gmail twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Google Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 14, 2015 6:30 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 14, 2015 6:30 PM UTC Before there was Gmail to deliver our messages, there was pen and paper. And before that, at least in the United States in the 1800s, there were ponies. In honor of the 155th anniversary of the Pony Express on Tuesday, Google created an [animated Doodle game](https://www.google.com/doodles/155th-anniversary-of-the-pony-express) that commemorates the mail delivery service. If Googlers click on the Wild West-themed Doodle, they can help a pony deliver mail across America. (Just watch out for cacti). In the video above, animator Nate Swinehart explains the history of the Pony Express and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Doodle process. Google: Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game","datePublished":"2015-04-14T18:30:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:18:45.272Z","description":"There once was a time before Gmail","url":"https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","History","viral","Search"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3821522/google-doodle-pony-express/","name":"Google Doodle Celebrates the Pony Express With a Game"}}]}] ```