Pac-Man-Inspired Mayoral Race Game Draws Mixed Reactions

An online game featuring Toronto’s five mayoral candidates was designed to raise awareness of the race while perhaps providing a very informal look into who might win the October 25th election.

Mayor Munch, created by the OneStop Media Group is based on Pac-Man, and has players choose one of the five candidates— Rob Ford, Rocco Rossi, Sarah Thomson, Joe Pantalone, Giorgio Mammoliti or George Smitherman—to play as.

Results show how much each candidate was chosen, figures that might presumably correlate to their outcome in the election. As of today, Rossi was leading, having been selected as the on-screen avatar of choice 29% of the time, a number that directly contrasts figures showing Ford with a huge 24-point lead.

Thomson was, at one time, on top of the Mayor Munch poll, prompting her office to issue a press release complete with cringe-worthy videogame puns that stated, “This is war. We are turning the gears of war and we will win! There is a resident evil at city hall, you don’t need a goldeneye to see it.”

Pantalone was less amused by Mayoral Munch, calling it “just a mindless game,” while a spokesperson for fellow candidate Rossi added, “We are busy running a campaign and reaching out to Toronto voters. We are not busy playing Pac Man.”