PAC-MAN's 30th Anniversary Doodle

Pacman is taking over Google!

The iconic arcade game celebrates its 30th anniversary on May 22, and Google has created a one-of-a-kind Pacman Google Doodle in its honor.

Google frequently switches up its primary-colored logo in order to celebrate the birthdays and anniversaries of luminaries, pop culture icons, and important innovations (Sesame Street and the barcode have been among the honorees), but the Pacman Google logo is unique in that it is the first playable Google Doodle.

According to Google, the Pacman logo has a total of 256 levels. Users can click the "Insert Coin" button to get the game going, or click it twice to kick-off a two-player game. (See it in action in the video below.) Pacman will be up on Google for a total of 48 hours--from 8AM PT on Friday through Sunday morning. The programmer behind the Pacman Doodle was reportedly the son of a game and pinball technician and used to accompany his father to arcade parlors and help him tinker with the games.

PAC-MAN™ & ©1980 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Homepage: http://www.google.com/pacman/
Source: http://www.google.com/logos/pacman10-hp.png

Pac-Man (Japanese: パックマン Pakkuman) is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture.  Upon its release, the game—and, subsequently, Pac-Man derivatives—became a social phenomenon that sold a bevy of merchandise and also inspired, among other things, an animated television series and a top-ten hit single. [Read more on Wikipedia]