In case you missed it, Pac-Man turned 30-years-old last Friday, and to celebrate the occasion, Google brought the 8-bit character back to life through the Web titan's first-ever playable Google doodle. All you had to do was hit the "Insert Coin" button and you could relive those childhood memories of chomping on pellets and dodging ghosts on a customized level.
It's hard to believe we were once so amused by this that we fed actual quarters into an actual machine so that we could navigate Pac-Man up, down, left, and right, but not only was the game hugely popular, apparently so was the doodle.
"We've been overwhelmed -- but not surprised :) -- by the success of our 30th anniversary Pac-man doodle," Google wrote in a blog post. "Due to popular demand, we're making the game permanently available at www.google.com/pacman.
"Thanks to NAMCO for helping to make this wonderful collaboration happen. Enjoy!"
Could this mean the end of Minesweeper and Solitaire as mid-afternoon time wasters? Probably not, but it's at least worthy of a bookmark. And here's a protip: Press the "Insert Coin" button twice to play a two-player game with Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man simultaneously (use WASD to control Ms. Pac-Man).
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Avi8or
May 24, 2010 at 6:58pm
This is great. A bunch of my friends and family missed out on the game when it was originally posted. This way they can experience it as well as have a flashback into the past. Great work Google and Namco.
DasHellMutt
May 24, 2010 at 11:07am
This was the hot topic all over my office friday. People were inspired to try to imitate the sounds. It got kind of annoying but nostalgic. I used to work on Arcade machines and original MS Pac-Man is one of the most sought after arcade machines to this day. Unfortunately they're also some of the hardest to work on being so old. Lots of wires and fuses....
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