In whimsical retro tribute, Pac-Man appears on MIT’s Great Dome

E-mail | Print | Comments () 01/11/2013 9:55 PM

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Pac-Man and the red ghost Blinky have appeared on the top of Building 10 at MIT.

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By Lauren Dezenski, Globe Correspondent

Pac-Man perched on top of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Great Dome for a while today before being removed by facilities crews this afternoon, the MIT facilities office said.

The iconic 1980s videogame character was accompanied by one of his nemeses, the red ghost Blinky, and was the latest in a tradition of pranks over the years involving the top of the building.

Crews have recently been working on the dome, said MIT Police Officer Edward Castadoro. The dome tops the Building 10, the Barker Engineering Library.

Castadoro said Pac-Man and Blinky, like other prank installations, were eventually taken down. “(We) usually don’t allow stuff to stay up,” Castadoro said.

Pranks of this type, known as “hacks,” are a tradition on MIT’s campus, showing off students’ technical abilities, rebellious streak, and quirky sense of humor.

Other things that have appeared on the dome have included replicas of a fire truck, the Apollo lunar module, an MBTA Red Line train car, the Wright Brothers’ plane, and a snowman.

Lauren Dezenski can be reached at lauren.dezenski@globe.com