Watch CBS News

Google Turns Maps Into A Giant 'Pac-Man' Game -- Here's How To Play

MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- Google is getting a head start on April Fools' Day by releasing its first prank that is sure to decrease productivity all over the world.

On Tuesday, the search-engine giant turned streets into a Pac-Man maze that anyone can play by simply going to maps.google.com. From there, you'll see two icons at the bottom left -- one for Google Earth and the other for Pac-Man.

Select any city you want, drop a pin and get ready to play. The game will only work in areas with enough perpendicular streets. Downtown San Francisco is perfect place to test it out.

Google has tried other video games with Maps in the past. For April Fools' Day in 2012, Google turned Maps into an 8-bit, classic video game dreamland inspired by Nintendo.

One year earlier, Google tried out a different prank that introduced an "intuitive, ergonomic" development to replace outdated keyboard and mouse movements.

Introducing Gmail Motion by Google on YouTube

Given the slew of bizarre Google projects out there, it's not always easy to tell fact apart from fiction.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.