{"id":114248,"date":"2020-05-26T11:30:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T15:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/?p=114248"},"modified":"2021-08-18T21:12:28","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T01:12:28","slug":"pac-man-12-things-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/pac-man-12-things-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Pac-Man – 12 Things to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pac-Man<\/strong> turned 40 this Memorial Da<\/a>y weekend. Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade game<\/a> ever<\/strong>. The video game was created<\/a> by game designer Toru Iwatani<\/a><\/strong>, who was 24 at the time. The idea for Pac-Man came to him when he removed a slice from a pizza<\/strong>. Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man – but was changed because of how easy it was to turn that into an obscenity.<\/p>\n

\"Pac-Man<\/a>The game was produced by the Japanese company Namco<\/a> and distributed in the U.S. by Chicago-based Bally-Midway<\/a>. Between its debut in a Tokyo theater on May 22, 1980, and 1990 Namco sold 400,000 Pac-Man<\/strong> gaming cabinets to arcades around the world and made $3.5 billion ($7.7<\/strong>\u00a0billion<\/strong> in 2020) in lifetime sales. The arcade game was played more than 10 billion times<\/a> in the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man’s success<\/h3>\n

A large part of Pac-Man’s success<\/strong>, in an era where almost all games were space-themed shooters (Galaga<\/a>, Missile Command<\/a>, Space Invaders<\/a>), was its non-violent, maze-chase gameplay.<\/strong> The game presented something fresh and new. The new ideas in Pac-Man did something few other games did at that time \u2013 it appealed to female gamers.<\/strong> This universal attraction helped bring an unprecedented number of players into arcades around the world, who shoveled billions of quarters into its slots.<\/p>\n

\"Best-selling<\/a>Pac-Man was also a pioneer in character development<\/strong>. The game had a defined main character<\/strong>, which was unheard of at the time. Chris Melissinos<\/a>, curator of the 2012 Smithsonian American Art Museum<\/a>\u00a0exhibition “The Art of Video Games<\/a>.” told<\/a> CNN<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Here comes this game that’s brightly colored and centered around a character that really doesn’t have a gender … And all of a sudden, we found a mascot — the first character in video games that existed not just in the artwork, but in the game itself.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The ghosts<\/h3>\n

Mr. Iwatani told<\/a> Wired<\/a><\/em> that Popeye<\/a> was the inspiration for Pac-Man’s ability to attack his enemies by eating fruit. Pac-Man’s protagonists<\/strong>, the ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde each have their own personalities<\/a> based on early artificial intelligence<\/strong> (AI) routines. Blinky<\/strong> \u00a0(red) constantly chases Pac-Man, Pinky <\/strong>(pink) attempts to ambush him, Inky <\/strong>(light blue) is randomized depending on Pac-Man\u2019s position and Clyde <\/strong>(orange) will get close to the player then attempt to flee to the bottom left corner, potentially cutting off escape routes. Mr. Iwatani told<\/a> CNN<\/em>,\u00a0“We introduced an AI-like algorithm that sent the ghosts to surround Pac-Man from all sides.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

\"Pac-Man<\/a><\/p>\n

Pac-Man has conquered all media<\/h3>\n

The popularity of Pac-Man opened the door to the first generation of gaming merchandise<\/strong>. Pac-Man has conquered all media – Online, print, music, and merchandising. Here are 12 other things you should know about Pac-Man.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When a playable version of Pac-Man<\/a><\/strong> appeared on the Google Doodle it cost the world almost 5 million man-hours<\/a> and $120 million in lost productivity<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Pac-Man has appeared in more than 90 games<\/a><\/strong>. The Pac-Man spin-off, Ms. Pac-Man, is a top 5 best-selling arcade game, according to U.S. Gamer<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. \"Pac-Man<\/a>He has been on the cover of Time Magazine<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  4. Pac-Man is a rock star.<\/strong> The Pac-Man inspired song Pac-Man Fever<\/a> reached number nine<\/a> on Billboard’s Top 100 chart<\/a><\/strong> in March 1982. The song sold<\/a> more than a million copies<\/li>\n
  5. “Weird” Al<\/strong> Yankovic recorded “Pac-Man\u201d in 1981 set to the music of the Beatles classic \u201cTaxman.\u201d\u00a0 It was not officially released<\/a> until 2017.<\/li>\n
  6. The game\u2019s distinctive sound was an inspiration<\/a> to early hip-hop<\/strong> pioneers; including Jonzun Crew\u2019s Pack Jam<\/a>\u00a0and Newcleus\u2019s\u00a0Jam on Revenge<\/a> (The Wikki-Wikki Song).<\/li>\n
  7. He is a TV star.<\/strong> In a 1982 episode Taxi<\/a>,<\/strong> Louie (Danny DeVito) installs a Pac-Man cabinet in the garage and Jim (Christopher Lloyd) becomes addicted to the game. The scene is effectively a how-to guide and an ad for Pac-Man rolled into one<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  8. \"\"<\/a>Pac-Man has appeared on The Simpsons<\/strong>‘ 5 times<\/a>. In episode 343<\/a>, Homer was researching previous Super Bowl halftime performances and looked back on a tape of Pac-Man marrying Ms. Pac-Man<\/a> as the ghosts danced and celebrated to the song \u201cPhysical\u201d by Olivia Newton-John.<\/li>\n
  9. He has had two television cartoons<\/a>. First was Pac-Man: The Animated Series <\/strong><\/i>from Hanna-Barbera which ran on ABC from 1982-83 and then there was Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures<\/strong> (2013-2016) <\/i>that was launched to support the new 3-D Pac-Man on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U.<\/li>\n
  10. Pac-Man is a merchandising maniac.<\/strong> Sports-card manufacturer Fleer<\/a> produced three Pac-Man trading card sets<\/a><\/strong>. One set is based on the original arcade game, one is centered on Ms. Pac-Man, and a third is based on the Super Pac-Man game.<\/li>\n
  11. Chef Boyardee<\/a>\"Chef<\/a> released Pac-Man pasta<\/a><\/strong> in three varieties: cheese, meatballs, and chicken. Of course, the pasta’s were formed<\/a> in the shape of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.<\/li>\n
  12. Counter-intuitively, the video game even had a board game<\/a><\/strong>. Milton Bradley<\/a> published the Pac-Man board game in 1982\u00a0 – which is going for $75.00 on eBay<\/a> these days.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    I recall playing Pac-Man on a console at Pizzuti’s Pizza while in HS. My arcade game really stepped up when I lived around the corner from Pinball Pete’s<\/a> in Ann Arbor (which burned down in 2009<\/a>) and was dodging work while on campus.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Stay safe out there!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    Related article<\/strong><\/p>\n