Does a lamp in the shape of a ghost qualify for a Pocket-lint review? Probably not, normally, but what if that ghost were a Pac-Man ghost, and what if the moment we took it out of the box we fell in love with it?

Our quick take

Seriously, you're still here? Why aren't you already buying this thing. It goes in the "I don't need it, it serves no purpose at all, but I simply must have it" category. And it's reasonably priced too - well, it might not be, but we're so totally in love with it we think £35 is entirely reasonable.

Whoever you are, whatever your hobbies, either you or someone you know wants this light. And that is what we, in the trade, call a fact.

The Pac-Man ghost light was lent to us, and can be purchased from, Firebox.

Pac-Man Ghost Lamp - 5.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • Bright
  • beautifully designed
  • loads of different colours
  • nice selection of modes
  • makes our 10-year-old self scream with joy
  • your kids will love it
  • If you have Pac-Man in your house he's going to be displeased
  • Yvette Fielding might turn up at your house - ugh

Well then, of course it's worth a review, and a score and all the other bits and bobs you get with one of our informative and entertaining reviews. On we go.

Design

The Pac-Man Ghost Lamp is designed to look like the ghosts from Pac-Man. In this endeavour, it succeeds entirely. There are plenty of other sorts of ghost it could look like, Casper, for example, but instead it sticks to the Pac-Man format. We respect that.

It's made of plastic, and it's quite light. This means you can run around the house with it making "woooohhh" noises. If you fall over, it won't break and get bits of glass embedded in you, thus turning you into a real live ghost.

There's a plug too, this is what powers the Pac-Man Ghost Lamp. Plug it in, and you're away. Don't expect it to light up instantly, though, because first there's something else that you need to make that happen.

Remote control

Also included in the box is a remote control to operate your Ghost Light. It's a simple, card-style affair. There's a decent number of buttons festooned across its surface, and this is tantalizing.

First, there are on and off controls. This is handy, especially if you get scared by this relentlessly pursuing ghost and need to turn it off in a hurry. The majority of the keys are for selecting the various colours your new ghost can adopt. There are the basics - red, green, blue and yellow - but there are more shades too. It's awesome.

But even more excellent are the colour-changing modes. Your ghost light can flash quickly, or fade gracefully between the various colours. You can speed this up or slow it down, all from the remote. There are brightness settings, too.

Performance

Press the right buttons, and your ghost lights up. Have it in your bedroom to add some spooky ambience - expect significant other to roll eyes, this is natural, they'll come around when they see all the colours - or put it in the lounge to make TV watching more vibrant.

It's LED-based, so it doesn't cost a fortune to run, and doesn't get especially warm if left on for ages. It's tough, and our two-year-old daughter utterly loved playing with the remote control. Seriously, kids these days have so much awesome stuff it pains us, we had to make to with a bit of string attached to a stick for our kicks when we were young.

The light is bright, and this might be one possible criticism. Although you can chose the brightness, it's never possible to get it especially dim for those times when you don't need eye-scorching light levels.

It's also worth pointing out that even the worst of British TV, like EastEnders and Coronation Street, can be immeasurably improved through the skillful deployment of ol' ghosty. Expect spousal disharmony, but soap operas will take on a new level of entertainment.

To recap

There is literally nothing that we don't like about this light.