Google Pac-Man
Four ghosts, two side tunnels and four corner pellets. Eat a pellet and the ghosts turn pale for a few seconds, which is the only window where chasing them pays.
What Is Google Pac-Man?
It is a complete version of the 1980 arcade game running inside the page. The maze layout, the tunnel wrap, the corner pellets and the ghost behaviour are all in place, so the patterns you remember still work.
The ghosts alternate between hunting you and scattering to their own corner, which is what stops the maze from feeling like four identical chasers. Learning when they turn is most of the skill.
How the Pac-Man Doodle Started
It went live on 21 May 2010 for the game’s thirtieth anniversary and was meant to run for 48 hours. Two of the team built it in JavaScript rather than faking it with images, kept the original ghost logic, and hid a second player on the coin button.
The response was large enough that it was given a permanent home instead of being archived quietly, which is why it outlasted contemporaries like the google zipper doodle.
How to Play Google Pac-Man
- Press start, click the maze, then steer with the arrow keys or the pad.
- Clear every pellet to finish the board.
- Save a corner pellet until a ghost is close. Each one you eat during that window is worth 200.
- Use the side tunnels to break a chase. Ghosts lose ground going through.
- Lose all three lives and the score resets with the maze.
FAQs
Can I still play the original doodle?
Yes. It is one of very few interactive doodles kept permanently available rather than retired.
Do the ghosts really behave differently?
They share the same movement rules but chase different targets, so they arrive from different directions rather than in a line.
What happens at the tunnels?
You come out the opposite side at the same height. It is the fastest way to reset a bad situation.
Which other classic is rebuilt here?
The wall in google block breaker and the fleet in space invaders, both filed under google easter eggs.
