How To Play Pac-Man In Google Search & Unlock Ms. Pac-Man Easter Egg
Pac-Man fans can actually play the classic game using Google Search. While many will already be aware of the Google version of the game, what they might not know is that another version can be unlocked which not only adds Ms. Pac-Man, but also turns the experience into a two-player game. Here’s how to properly find Pac-Man on Google Search and activate Ms. Pac-Man mode.
Pac-Man is one of those iconic games that has lasted through the ages and remains popular today with an active fan base who even have the option of buying a selection of Pac-Man merch from the official website. The original version of the arcade game launched on May 22, 1980 which meant the game celebrated its 40th anniversary just last week. Making right now a good time to give this older Google Search Easter egg a closer look.
The Google Search version of Pac-Man is not new. In fact, it was originally added by Google back in May of 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary. However, a decade later and the game is still live and easily accessed by anyone looking to spend some time indulging in nostalgic maze gameplay, with Pac-Man, the ghosts, and even Ms. Pac-Man available as a hidden Easter egg.
Finding and playing Pac-Man through Google is simple and largely only requires a search for the game. However, the various ways you can search will determine how the game is accessed. For example, just searching for “pacman” will return the game as the top result, and clicking “play” will launch the game in a pop-up window. A better way to do it is to go to google.com, search for “pacman” and instead of pressing enter or hitting the search button, press on “I’m feeling lucky.” This method will immediately launch the game in the browser and even better, a full-screen version. This approach can also be done on a smartphone if using the Chrome app, although it requires the “desktop site” box to be checked in Chrome’s settings menu.
The real Easter egg here not only add Ms. Pac-Man to the gameplay, but also turns the game into a two-player version where the first player uses the directional keys to control Pac-Man and the second player uses the W,A,S, and D keys to control Ms. Pac-Man. To unlock this feature, go to google.com, search for “google pacman” using the “I’m feeling lucky” option. This will redirect the user to the original 2010 Google doodle listing for Pac-Man with the option to play the game at the top of the page. You’ll notice this time the game comes with a retro “insert coin” button instead of the “play” button shown in Google search. Clicking this once will start the game as normal, but clicking “insert coin” again (while a game is already being played) will unlock Google's two-player version with Ms. Pac-Man.