Since its origins—apparently somewhat by chance1—Google has been having fun altering its logo to offer illustrations related to current events. This modified logo—called a doodle, meaning scribble in French—is not necessarily distributed worldwide, as Google adapts it according to different countries.
Since October 31st is now associated with the celebration of Halloween in a large part of the world, it is not
surprising that Google plans a Google Doodle for this date. One might rightly argue that this holiday was exported in its American version primarily for commercial purposes, but to outright reject pop culture and mercantilism on a site dedicated to video game entertainment would be, if not futile, at least hypocritical!
Regardless, Google didn’t settle for just a simple logo this year; it has blessed us with a Google Doodle Game2, that is, a game you can play directly in your browser between searches. The game features a well-known character: Pac-Man, who is sporting a little witch’s hat for the occasion!3 It’s a fitting return to origins since the first Doodle Game was also a remake of Pac-Man!4 But time moves on: the first celebrated Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary, while today’s celebrates its 45th!
So what exactly does it involve? From October 30, 2025, and likely for 24 to 72 hours, you can access a reskinned Pac-Man by clicking on Google’s animated logo created for the occasion: candies replace the fruits, eyeballs become the power pellets, and the ghosts… remain as ghosts! The scenery also transforms to include pleasantly macabre and gloomy elements.
The mazes are also new; while the single level from the original Pac-Man is reused for the first level of Pac-Man Halloween 2025, the following seven levels don’t correspond to any of the four mazes from Ms. Pac-Man. Otherwise, the principle remains unchanged, and the game is effortlessly controlled using the keyboard’s arrow keys.
And that’s about all there is to say. To be honest, there are still two small gestures from Google, since they must make the most of their partnership: on the search pages, the Google logo is also in the colors of Pac-Man Halloween.
And, more challenging to find, a search for the term “Halloween” reveals the quartet of ghosts being chased by the hungry yellow sphere. Our five friends traverse the page from left to right, beneath the search bar, in three renditions!
Old Bob couldn’t resist and played a quick game of Halloween Pac-Man, as shown in the video of this article. I don’t know if I was in Olympic form or if the difficulty has been toned down compared to the original, but I completed all eight mazes on my first try!
In any case, this little Halloween nod is quite delightful and entertaining, proving that a classic remains a classic!
Bob DUPNEU
The 8 levels of Pac-Man Halloween 2025
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