It looks like a simple Google doodle, but the maze moves and somehow you suddenly care about every tiny dot.
Google Pacman feels snappy and a little sticky, like vintage arcade machine energy translated into your browser. You steer Pacman through a tight maze, gobble pellets, nab the occasional power pellet, then either chase ghosts or run like mad when they turn normal again. The core loop is dumb and brilliant, turn left, turn right, bait a ghost, clear the board. I actually love how the chase rhythm sneaks up on you and makes you tense for no good reason.
Controls are simple, so everything happens fast and you end up making sloppy plays. Don’t corner yourself trying to clear the last dots, and remember power pellets let you turn the hunter into the hunted for a few seconds, so time those grabs right.
Controls
- Arrow keys to move (up, down, left, right)
- W A S D also work on many browsers
- Space or click to pause in some versions
Similar games
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Pac-Man Championship Edition
- Pac-Man 256
- Snake
- Dig Dug
