Pac Man

People around the world are celebrating the 25th birthday of the popular arcade game, Pac Man. Here is an excerpt from an article on CNN Money about Pac Man:

"Pac Man is arguably the most influential game in the industry's history (with Pong the only other real contender), Pac Man has made more than $100 million dollars one quarter at a time. He's spawned his own line of trading cards, lunch boxes, board games, breakfast cereals and been the inspiration for a Top 40 hit (Buckner & Garcia's "Pac Man Fever" hit number 9 on Billboard's charts in 1982).

This year, Pac Man turns 25 -- but age isn't slowing the little guy down. 1999's "Pac Man World" and 2002's "Pac Man World 2" both sold over a million copies. And Namco has already announced four Pac Man themed games this year - and versions for Sony's PSP will be announced in the near future. TV Plug & Play game collections featuring Pac Man remain hot sellers. And the rise in cell phone gaming has opened up another opportunity for the original arcade game.

Toru Iwatani, who came up with the idea of Pac Man at dinner, was trying to come up with a game that looked like a cartoon. At a pizza parlor, he paused after taking his first slice and thought the remainder of the pie looked like a head with its mouth open. He imagined it racing through a maze, eating things -- and the phenomenon was born. In fact, legend has it Iwatani actually wanted Pac Man to be a pizza, but technological limitations at the time made it impossible.

While we take knowing the name of today's heroes and villains for granted, Pac Man was the first video game to name its characters (the ghosts, to jog your memory, were Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) and the first game to offer interludes as rewards for advancing.

So go ahead and be impressed as you hear about sales numbers for the next "Grand Theft Auto" or see anxious gamers camping overnight to be the first to get their hands on next generation consoles. But weigh that frenzy to the one Pac Man sparked when it was originally released in Japan. The game proved so popular that it incited a shortage of yen coins in the country.

Let's see today's titles manage something like that."

I would just like to add that I love Pac Man. It is the most exciting, yet frustrating, game that I have ever played.

Play Pac Man Now.