Google Pac a Surprise

Google has made a habit of changing their famous logo for special days and events, but for the first time ever they’ve converted it into a playable game for one time only. The game commemorates the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man and allows you to navigate the letters GOOGLE, whilst avoiding and fighting back against four ghosts.

The game makes use of Javascript functionality and remaining the search engine screen for long enough starts the game up automatically, complete with the original soundtrack from 1980. You can also initiate the game by simply clicking the ‘insert coin’ button that is usually reserved for those ‘feeling lucky’, clicking it twice allows for two players to get involved simultaneously.

The second player takes control of Ms. Pac-Man, whose game hit arcades a year later and became a major success in her own right. Whilst the first player navigates via the up, down, left, right arrow keys, you control her with the W, A, S, D keys.

Google programmer, Marcin Wichary, says, "When I was growing up, my dad had the best job I could possibly imagine: he was an arcade game and pinball technician. For me, that meant summer trips through Poland's coastal cities with their seasonal arcade parlors; peeking inside cabinets to learn programming and engineering secrets; and – of course – free games!"