Pac-Man Doodle (May 22, 2011)

Today I bring you one of the most succesfull doodles ever: The Pac-Man Doodle.

On May 22 Google honored the famous Pac-Man videogame with this amazing interactive doodle (press the 'Insert Coin' button and it actually works!).


This date was chosen because it was on the same day, but on 1980, when Namco released for the first time, in Japan, this arcade game that is arguably, until today, the most famous videogame in history. One of the main virtues of Pac-Man was opening up the market to both genders, since it had been aimed at male consumers since its beginnings. Other notable achievements of this game are in its earnings, having Namco reported gross earnings of more than U$S 2.5 billion (yes, billions) by 1.990.

The original Ms. Pacman arcade machine, by Midway.

After its debut, Pac-Man became a famous character and has since appeared in many other sequels and spin-offs, being perhaps Ms. Pac-Man the most famous of them all. It is funny to notice that this game was entirely produced and developed by Midway, not Namco, and was at first unauthorized. This shows clearly how the game appealed to female gamers, and Midway promptly got that message and got to work on a protagonist with which girls could identify themselves.