Happy Birthday PAC-MAN – he’s 35 tomorrow
Amazingly it’s 35 years tomorrow since arcade game Pac-man was unleashed on the world in an arcade game developed by Namco and first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. That makes him the same age as Kim Kardashian West, Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum and Kelly Brook.
And of course like most things it seems the little yellow man is being reprised – looking somewhat different/unrecognisable – in a movie role in Sony Pictures film, Pixels (se below).
To celebrate here are five facts about Pac-Man you can bore your friends with:
2. Pac-Man was originally named Puck-man. But fearing that Americans would scratch off part of the ’P’ to make an ’F’, the manufacturers changed it to Pac-Man for North America.
3. The ghosts that pursue Pac-Man are nicknamed Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. While Blinky and Pinky are the most predictable and chase Pac-Man directly, Inky’s tactic is to ambush and Clyde is the one to fear most because his movements are random.
4. The arcade version of Pac-Man has a highest possible score of 3,333,360 … which has been achieved by less than 10 people ever.
5. 90% of Brits would instantly recognise Pac-Man
