“But is it art?” one SPOnG cynic asked when we heard this tasty bit of news on the grapevine earlier. Birmingham is playing host to a real life Pac-Man maze opening up as part of the Plus International Design Festival .

Who cares if it is art? It is an opportunity to pretend to be Pac-Man (or a ghost, if you are evil). Isn’t that alone reason enough to visit Birmingham next week!?

From the press release just in from the event’s organiser: “Pac-Man Plus gives you a host of amazing options. Maybe you want to be a ghost, and chase down the hero and make him eat his own head with a wibbly blip. Maybe you want to be Pac-Man, and feel the terror of having your destiny in a player’s hands. You can’t move on your own, Player 1 will tell you where to go. Pac-Man doesn’t think, he just does."

It continues, becoming gradually stranger, "What if Player 1 has been drinking? Your life is literally in his hands. Perhaps you want to wield the same power as you usually have in gaming, seeing the bigger picture and giving Pac-Man the information he needs to stay alive."

Basically a player dressed as Pac-Man will enter the five by six metre maze where, lying in wait, will be two ghosts – Blinky and Inky. Pac-Man’s movements will then be directed via a one-way headset linked to another player outside the maze (the Controller), who will be watching the action top-down on a large projection screen. Genius!

The goal of the game for Pacman and his Controller will be to collect the four Powerpills inside the maze and then stay alive! The high score table beckons…

For more on this bizarre and awesome-sounding event taking place at next week’s International Design Expo taking place October 17th – 21st at Wild Building, 93-96 Floodgate Street, Digbeth, visit www.youplusus.net