Leave it to Google to make April Fools’ Day into throwback fun by combining Google Maps with Pac-Man.
The massive tech company is known for its impish April Fools’ Day pranks, and Google Maps has been at the center of a few, including a Pokemon Challenge and a treasure map. This year the company was a day early to the party, rolling out the Pac-Man game Tuesday.
It’s easy to play: Simply pull up Google Maps on your desktop browser, click on the Pac-Man icon on the lower left, and your map suddenly becomes a Pac-Man course.
Twitterers have been tickled by the possibilities, playing Pac-Man in Manhattan, on the University of Illinois quad, in central London and down crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco, among many locations:
Google says the game is also playable on mobile devices in certain cities. But don’t wait, because the company says the game “will only be around for a little while.”
Who cares about rush hour? When those dark red lines of expressways and thoroughfares can be festooned with Pac-Man dots, it’s a good reason to stay late at work.
Although your computer mouse is no substitute for a good ol’ arcade joystick.