Elián González

publication date: Monday, February 19, 2018 (part of Winter 2018)

clue: This turn-of-the-century Cuban refugee is not a boy any more.

intended difficulty: easy

solved by: Russ Wilhelm, LaVonne Lemler, Samir Mehta, Chris Lemler, Richard Slominsky, Matthew Preston, Erik Bates, and Lori Lancaster

trivia: Two and a half years into the game, Elián González (2000) became the first of a major trend that would sustain the game thereafter: People from current events in the news, who were previously not famous and did not come from traditional fields of fame like television, movies, music, sports, and so on. In fact, González was the very first person to become a goo who was not already famous and well-known before the game started. In the early days there were countless famous people to turn into goos, but over the years, the game thoroughly mined the traditional celebrities and came to rely more and more on overnight newsmakers like González, ordinary people who made headlines just long enough to support a single goo before they were mostly forgotten. –Scott Hardie

20th Anniversary: Celebrity Goo Game has changed a lot since it began in February 1998. The twenty goos in this theme recreate the twenty most impactful and game-changing goos from the last two decades, in order of their influence. Happy anniversary, goo game!