Google's Pac-Man Doodle to Live Forever

Posted 05/24/2010 at 6:11am | by Paul Lilly

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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).