The making of the World's Biggest Pac-Man game

In about a week, Pac-Man fans have built more than 13,500 levels for the World's Biggest Pac-Man game. This Space Invaders-themed maze is just one of them.

(Credit: Namco-Bandai)

When we think of Pac-Man, we think of a single screen, and a series of new mazes that become available only after players finish the one they're on.
But that's not how Ashley Ringrose and his colleagues at Sydney, Australia-based Soap Creative agency thought of the mega-hit 30-year-old video game. So when they were given a chance to design a promotion for the game that was both innovative and social, the lightbulb that went off over their heads was all about big.
Big, as in the World's Biggest Pac-Man game, in which fans are able to design their own levels, all of which are connected with the others, and all of which can be shared with the world.
The new version of the game, unveiled to the world during a keynote address at Microsoft's Mix 11 event in Las Vegas, is a fan's view of what Pac-Man is. With 13,500 user-designed mazes created as of this writing, and nearly 300 million dots eaten, this is truly a worldwide phenomenon.
Ringrose and his colleagues came up with the idea in a flash--but they still had to get buy-in from Pac-Man publisher Namco-Bandai. And that came quickly, Ringrose said. Still, Namco had to weigh in with its perspectives on how its hit game would come across in this format.
Yesterday, I invited both Ringrose and Carlson Choi, vice president of marketing for Namco Bandai Games America, to have a discussion about the creation of the game as part of my 45 Minutes on IM interview series. The two spoke passionately about Pac-Man, and about what it takes to give a classic character a whole new way of interacting with the world.


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