Pac-Man, comes in many forms — including recycled ones!

1. Pumpkins

image source : Windell Oskay

While Pac-Man himself was hardly down-to-earth, he did have the distinction of being threatened by a supernatural menace, and if there are two things that the Internet’s most ambitious crafters love, Halloween and retro gaming are certainly amongst them

image source : Sean Ellis

This has led to the regular appearance of Pac-Man’s not-terribly-terrifying ghosts at Halloween celebrations the world over, and offers the fantastic opportunity of creating the Pac-Man cast out of new materials — in these cases, old pumpkin gourds. So, once you’ve had your fill of pumpkin pie, time to get carving!

2. Pac-Man ring

image source : Annie Pilon

This brilliant, handmade ring features a fuzzy, felt Pac-Man (with eye). Creator Annie Pilon is a self-confessed nerd, and her other work includes a Pikachu hat and a knitted R2-D2, as well a whole range of Star Wars cookies! The ring is also available as an earring — and if you have some felt lying around you can make your own.

3. Bread and toast

image source : Andy Powell

With a simple pixel grid and only a handful of colors, Pac-Man’s creators didn’t have much to work with. It’s creations like that pictured here that underline just how well they succeeded in crafting truly iconic characters that can be replicated using almost anything. In this case it’s some unwanted toast, laid out in a 14 x 14 grid — and if the artist gets tired of his or her work, they can always make some sandwiches!

4. Silver pendant

image source : Toby Attrill

It’s simple, it’s to the point, it’s a work of art. As its creator, Toby Attrill, puts it, the piece is “98% recycled.” The piece features a 1920, British 3 penny bit as the round face; scrap silver, rolled into a sheet, for the base; and a vintage sterling silver twist chain. The only things that aren’t recycled are the jump rings. Toby has a passion for reuse and says that he spends his holidays combing sea-washed glass and shells to use in his work.

5. Canned Pac-Man

image source : Sonson

That really is just what you think it is: a gigantic Pac-Man created out of cans. The sculpture was featured at a 2008 New York event run by Canstruction in which architects, engineers and students competed to create sculptures out of dozens of cans, with constructions including Winnie the Pooh and Wall-E, as well as a Pac-Man eating a ghost. Every can donated for the construction of the pieces was subsequently passed on to charitable causes.

6. Tote bag

image source : HoboCampCrafts

This tote bag brilliantly uses vintage buttons to outline the features of one of Pac-Man’s ghostly nemeses, Inky, the blue ghost. Each of the repurposed buttons, standing in for the pixels of the original, has been hand sewn onto the bag, perfectly capturing the ghost. And it looks like Inky better watch out, because Pac-Man could be heading for a power pellet any minute now!

Since 1992, Canstruction has donated more than 15 million pounds of food to community food banks, stocking up emergency feeding programs and ensuring that food gets to where its needed. In the meantime, the cans take some amazing shapes, publicizing the good cause and encouraging people to contribute. What could be a more appropriate mascot than hungry, hungry Pac-Man?