Learn About the Game Google's Doodle Pac-Man
One morning in May 2010, I opened up Google and was delighted to find the classic Pac-Man maze taking over the logo. Instead of the usual search bar greeting, there was that familiar yellow chomping circle, ready to dart through tiny dots and evade colorful ghosts. It felt like a sweet, unexpected blast from the past, right there on one of the busiest pages on the web.
The controls were as simple as ever—you could use your arrow keys or click the on-screen arrows to guide Pac-Man on his dot-eating spree. The levels cycled through seven unique mazes, each one inspired by a different aspect of the Google logo. When you gobbled up a power pellet, those pesky ghosts would turn blue, and you’d chase them down for bonus points—just like the arcade version we all know and love.
I remember sitting back in my chair and smiling as I tried to beat my high score between emails and afternoon coffee. Friends pinged me across chat to say they were playing too, and suddenly the entire day felt like an impromptu game night. It was incredible how a simple doodle could bring back memories of arcade quarters and carefree school-yard competitions.
Even after the doodle returned to its usual clean look, Google archived it so you could still play anytime you wanted. That little interactive homage turned a routine web search into a nostalgic treasure hunt and reminded everyone how something as small as a doodle can spark big smiles.