The world is your Pac-Man board. Google Maps' special April Fools Day treat for Web browsers is a game of Pac-Man played on a board made from images of their own neighborhood streets. The famous circular character gobbles up dots and avoids ghosts in "PAC-Maps."
PAC-Maps was launched Tuesday morning, signaling the start of April Fools' Day in Asia.
By using a Web browser, or Android or iOS apps to access Google Maps, users can transform any U.S. street map into the old-school Pac-Man video game, according to CBS New York. Gamers play by using the cursor keys.
The wide variety of U.S. streets, avenues, boulevards, and courts make even the highest levels of the original arcade game seem as easy as 1-2-3. Google Maps users have the option to toggle between standard maps and the Pac-Man mode, according to Slate.
The 35-year object of the game is for Pac-Man to eat as many "pellets" as possible, while avoiding the colorful "ghosts" that chase him around the maze. After players eat one of the four flashing dots called "power pellets" they can temporarily eat the blue ghost enemies.
Namco originally released Pac-Man in Japan during May 1980, and then in the U.S. during October of that year. The game became widely popular, resulting in the 1981 song "Pac-Man Fever;" a wide array of merchandise; and several sequels including Ms. Pac-Man (1981), and Super Pac-Man (1982).
Pac-Man became one of the most famous and highest-grossing video games ever. Over 10,000 units were sold in the game's first year, and by the 1990s it had earned over $2.5 billion in quarters.
Google has featured P ac-Man before. In 2010, the company celebrated the game's 30th birthday by including a free version on its web search homepage.
The fun-loving tech giant will likely provide other April Fools treats, based on its past April 1 antics. They include a translation tool for animals, job notices on the Moon, and Web searches by smell.