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Brilliant new Google Maps trick turns your entire neighborhood into a game of Pac-Man

Published Mar 31st, 2015 1:42PM EDT
Google Maps Pac-Man Trick
Image: Kotaku

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April Fools Day is coming Wednesday but Google has already gotten a head start on its planned pranks by adding an awesome new feature to Google Maps that will let you turn your entire neighborhood into a giant game of Pac-Man.

FROM EARLIER: Google’s latest Gmail app update delivers a killer feature we’ve wanted for years

As Kotaku reports, you can access this new trick by zooming into a given neighborhood and then clicking on the Pac-Man icon in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. Google will then impose an overlay of Pac-Man onto your neighborhood’s street layout and it’s your job to safely guide Pac-Man through your streets while evading ghosts and eating pellets.

You can use your keyboard’s arrow keys for controls, although these controls get a little difficult to figure out on streets that feature lots of different angles and unexpected turns. You know, like the vast majority of streets in Boston. However, if you live in a city like New York or Philadelphia that’s reasonably designed like a grid, we imagine the controls get a lot more intuitive.

While we personally dread April Fools Day as the most annoying single day on the Internet, at the very least Google usually gives us something amusing to do with its April 1st gags. In 2012, for instance, it used Google Maps to deliver 8-bit maps of the United States that looked like they came straight out of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.