EDWARDS, Ill (WMBD) — The hit 80s game Pac-Man has made the jump to the real world in Illinois, where Caterpillar skid steers are being used to chase down a vehicle playing the role of the the old school emoji as he navigates an earth maze.
The scale model of Pac-Man was built in honor of Peoria-based Caterpillar’s 95th anniversary. The company’s creative teams built the 200 by 200 foot maze over several days.
In the promotional video, players wearing color coded hard hats corresponding with Inky, Blinky and the other classic characters remotely drive around the maze and try to capture Pac-Man before he can navigate the entire grid and pick up dots represented in an augmented reality experience.
Project lead Archie Lyons explained that he used state-of-the-art technology to bring it to life.
“We were able to upload the iconic game board via GPS to our machines. When you look at the overlay of the virtual board on the real board, it’s a 99% accuracy, and with 151 corners in it, that’s pretty impressive,” said Lyons.
Unlike the real game, there is no actual contact between Pac-Man and the ghosts, players are eliminated when they get within a certain range of the other player’s vehicle, as seen in the full promotional video.
In addition to Caterpillar’s milestone, 2020 also marks the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man.