Google’s ‘Bacon Number’ Adds ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’ To Any Search: Which Actor Has The Highest Number?

For those unfamiliar, the point of the game is to find someone's shortest movie connection to Kevin Bacon. The term is a play on the phrase "six degrees of separation," which refers to the idea that everyone on average is about six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth.

For example, when typing in the words "bacon number Adam Sandler" in the search bar without quotes, Google will respond with "Adam Sandler's Bacon number is 2." This is because Adam Sandler starred in "Just Go With It" with Jennifer Aniston, who starred alongside Kevin Bacon in "Picture Perfect."

The highest known Bacon Number belongs to a man by the name of William Rufus Shafter, who is ranked at a 7. The most common Bacon Number for many actors and actresses is in the 2-3 range, as users can now discover through a simple Google search.

This new feature showcases the search engine's new Google Knowledge Graph, which debuted in May. This function brings up background information on subjects in the form of a sidebar alongside the search results. Google Knowledge Graph includes commonly searched information such as a celebrity's net worth, birthday, movies and TV shows he or she have appeared in, and more.

But this isn't the first comical "Easter egg" that Google has hidden in its search function. In November 2011 the "Do a Barrel Roll" Easter egg flipped the search results sideways when the phrase was entered into the search bar. Google paid homage to Blizzard's  popular PC game "Starcraft" with the "Zerg Rush" Easter egg. When typing "zerg rush" into the search box, a point-and-shoot game appeared on the screen.

Find any other actors with a Bacon Number of 7? Share it in the comments below.