Google Maps Transformed Into Pac-Man Board For April Fool's Day
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- With April Fool's Day around the corner, Google Maps provided a new diversion for Internet browsers – treating them to a game of Pac-Man using the image of their very own neighborhoods.
Google said it is now called "PAC-Maps" and calls the change "our most ambitious update yet," CBS News reported. Whether or not you buy into the notion that it has a purpose, CBS News said the feature is worth a few minutes of your time.
The Pac-Man game debuted Tuesday morning, when April Fool's Day began in Asia.
Heading to Google Maps on a Web browser or with the iOS or Android apps allows any user to turn the street map into an old-fashioned Pac-Man game controlled with the cursor keys.
Users can select any city in the country for their game.
While the street grid of Midtown with its perpendicular grid is even easier to navigate than the original board from the 35-year-old arcade game, the curved foot paths of Washington Square Park and the winding trails of Central Park made even the faster levels of the original game look like child's play.
As has been happening since 1980, Pac Man eats blinking dots while trying to elude four "ghosts" — Pinky, Blinky, Inky and Clyde.
Pac-Man was developed by video game developer Namco and was released in Japan in May 1980. It was licensed by Midway in the U.S. and released stateside in October 1980.
The game sold more than 100,000 units in its first year alone.
This is not the first time Pac-Man has been featured on Google. In 2010, Google celebrated the 30th anniversary of the game with a free version of Pac-Man on its search homepage.
Planting Pac Man into maps probably won't be Google's only April Fools' stunt, based on the Mountain View, California, company's colorful past. Among other things, Google previously has promised to introduce search by smell, provide a translation tool for animals and posted notices for jobs on the moon.
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