One of the greatest of all the greats as far as video games are concerned, is Pac-Man. Hands down. No Question. Pac-Man was so good that all they needed to do was put a bow and some lipstick on Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man was born. There was almost no change at all to the Pac-Man game itself.
Like Pac-Man, Google is, if not sitting directly at the top of the list, one of the greatest companies of all time. Google has just made it possible to turn Google Maps roadways into Pac-Man boards. I’m calling it Pac-Maps. It’s actually pretty mind blowing how well it works, not to mention how easy it is to do.
Here’s how to play Pac-Man on Google Maps, or Pac-Maps
Open up a new browser window and go full screen on your monitor (I’m using Google Chrome). Head over to Google Maps and enter in the location you would like to play then zoom in a little. You’ll notice that there’s a new box in the lower left next to Google Earth view.
Roll your mouse over the box that I guess you can call “Pac-Man View” and you’ll see a box show up around the roadways that will make up your Pac-Man board.
Click on the Pac-Man View box to accept the selected map board and boom… you’re playing Pac-Man through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh.
There’s a little instructional animated graphic to the left before you get started. Once you hit an arrow key, you’ll be off and running. Google… you guys are crazy but hey… you’re my kind of crazy!
A little side note to this. Pittsburgh is the test city for automated cars and whether you know it or not, Google has successfully driven from the CMU’s campus all the way to the airport and back completely “driver-less”. If Google Maps is this accurate and programmed so well to be able to isolate the roads from all other “grounds”, maybe you can start to imagine how Google can be so confident about having automated cars driving throughout the city.
Please… please go crazy in the comments and post where you’re playing Pac-maps and I’ll see you down there. This is probably one of the coolest little bells and whistles add-on Google has ever created.
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By: Eli Rebich
