# Google Pac-Man doodle

> Google's Pac-Man doodle prompted a disputed $120.48 million productivity-loss estimate.

- Owner: Google; Namco Bandai (Pac-Man rights)
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2010-05-21
- Peak proxy date: Week of May 21, 2010
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 42 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Google put playable Pac-Man on its homepage for the game's anniversary. Users shared playthroughs and complained about sound. Google kept a permanent page, while RescueTime's disputed productivity estimate generated another round of coverage.

## Timeline

- 2010-05-21 — Google (Open web) — Google released its first playable doodle, a Pac-Man maze built around its name.
- 2010-05-21 — ABC News / WIRED / The Guardian (Press) — National outlets covered the playable logo, its co-op mode and its compatibility with phones.
- 2010-05-21 — Twitter users (X) — Twitter users joked that the playable Google logo had ended their productive workday.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/google-pac-man-doodle

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Google Pac-Man doodle.” Case HIS-01598. Spread Score v1.3: 42/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01598