Make your Windows Phone Start Screen stand out with PacMan Tiles

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Are you a fan of the classic game PacMan? Of course you are. It's now possible to recreate what Nokia UK achieved with PacMan and ghosts on the Start Screen with a new app called PacMan Tiles. As the name suggests, it enables you to add individual PacMan tiles to the Start Screen and personalize the battlefield of Live Tiles.

PacMan Tiles

The app itself was developed by Denis Petrakov, who has made it available on the store for free. While the app prompts you to pay for an in-app purchase to unlock all tiles featured in PacMan Tiles, the developer has made it so you don't actually get charged (the in-app purchases are in test mode). It's noted the app will be updated to make all tiles for free without having to go through the test instance.

Have fun adding the 1x1 tiles to your Windows Phone and share with us your results in the comments!

QR: PacMan Tiles

Thanks, Scott, for the heads up!

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

72 Comments
  • Looks cool! Wil try this out :D
  • Awesome :D
    Want it.
  • Looks cool
  • Looks cool, gonna give it a shot
    EDIT: Love it , too bad it only works with the dark theme ... The tiles are not transparent.
  • Hihihi it must be really fun!!
  • i Love it hihihi
  • Looks good but I can't download......
    via Wpcentral app for WP7.8
  • Buy a 520 maybe?
  • Ouch:(
  • I think Micromax Canvas Win W121 is a good option for me. It comes preloaded with WP8.1
  • Ha! All my iOS and Android friends will be jealous now xD
  • Damn sure they won't!
  • What if he's in a Pac-Man fan club that meets up once a week to talk about everything Pac-Man. Do you think his friends would be jealous then? ;)
  • I agree with u. And anyways, Pac man on your screen is awesome..!!
  • LOL
  • Lmao
  • Why not? Me and my friends used to play Pac Man alot back in days. iPhone users can only dream of having Pac Man on their start screen xD
  • This was teased by nokia on their twitter page. But couldn't figure it out what it was.
  • Until I saw this I thought it was just a background image made for the start screen.
  • I believe the original image on the Facebook page was a background and cleverly-placed tiles.
  • Will give this a try seems pretty cool. It's time your site take emoji now that it's built into the keyboard.
  • I'll be honest this makes me giddy in a way I wasn't expecting, nostalgia for the win.
  • Pretty cool, too bad you cant use a tile more than once though.
  • Errmm yes you can!
  • Sorry lads, its working now :-)
  • Yeah once you use a different tile first...that's how it worked for me ;)
  • I would like to have your background image Rich. You could share?
  • He shared it in another article: http://i57.tinypic.com/vzbw2a.jpg. It was created with Theme+, so feel free to give it a try!
  • Feedback to Nokia now is called 'rate us' Microsoft should be worried about making out apps better instead of changing names without improvements.. Skype NEEDS an update!
  • You do know its coming right
  • Hey Rich. As you may have transparent tile Disqus? I updated the app but the tile continues its blue color.
  • Unpin the tile and pin it again..
  • Uninstall and reinstall, then pin it.
  • Yay
  • I like it. It's a little buggy. Sometimes tapping on a character doesnt add it to the start screen. Looks awesome though.
  • You can do the same thing with pinbits pixelart if you don't mind doing a little tracing. Its free right now. You can also pin the same piece of art over and over.
  • Love it! Can you do this with LoZ?
  • Donkey Kong please
  • AWEGHHHESOHRRMME
  • :V
  • Awesome!
  • Supercool! I once saw someone did this in instagram. I tot he did it himself...
  • I would love to have this with 8bit FF characters!
  • It's ugly.
  • Well it's cute, and it's really a creative idea but I would never spend money for something like this (talking about the extra tiles).
  • Might want to read the article again. The in-app purchase is actually a test mode, you do not get charged. :-)
  • Yeah, i have got the full version, foc!
  • Nice tip, thnx!
  • I like it
  • Cool...
  • Awesome!
  • Would be awesome if they could be live tiles :P
  • So, all these are BLANK tiles with no function, but having PACMAN themed icons??
  • This is a clever idea. I like it
  • I have a way cooler start screen
  • It's cool ! But it would be cooler if it was live tiles, with pacman actually eating the dots and the ghosts :)
  • Haha it looks good on my start screen!
  • I like it but my paranoia just won't let me unlock the red of the icons.
  • Would love to have Calvin and Hobbes tiles :)
  • Or backgrounds❕
  • Wow, this is a really clever idea! I like it, may have to give it a shot!
  • Yayy, PacMan StartScreen. Looks pretty awesome :) You could also exchange your start screens via Picturex and even get other awesome background pictures for free! https://picturex.ch/go/YRwl29
  • Oh this is sick. This needs to become a thing
  • I rather keep my girl friend's picture as my background photo ~
  • Creepy
  • but ugly. does not fit windows esthetics at all
  • I like it! < In the voice of the dude from Robocop.
  • Uhmmm ...nah ty
  • Recent update just made all the fruit in app purchase. Can't even use my Microsoft credit for it.
  • And made ALL tiles blank for me. If i have to redo all of it for every update I'm fine without this app.
  • Why is thus not available for the 1520? Can't download the app.
  • Not available for my 920 either.