Google, how I heart you

Much to my surprise (and delight), I went on Google today, only to find that the page had been transformed into an interactive Pac-Man game that users can actually play online! Hello, happy childhood!

One article, found here, explains the reason for what I think is Google’s best page yet:

In honor of the 30th anniversary of everyone's favorite arcade game, Google has outdone itself. The company has not simply embedded a static artistic homage to Pac-Man on the Google.com homepage, but installed the game itself. Yup, the Google logo has been turned into a Googlified version of the Pac-Man game, and is the company’s first interactive home page. Searchers can hit the "insert coin" button or wait ten seconds to get playing and can then apparently work their way through all 256 levels. Once they've won (or, you know, failed miserably) the search engine sends them to a search results page for "Pac-Man 30th anniversary". Curmudgeons, or those not obsessed with 80s arcade game culture, can search as usual. The doodle was the brainchild of senior user experience design, Marcin Wichary a self-confessed "Pac-Man enthusiast" (y'think?) along with regular doodler Ryan Germick. The game will be live for 48 hours.

Happy playing…and as always, Happy Friday!