;D OK guys ...we are OLD...Pac Man is 25 years old now...I got my new issue of HISTORY mag today in the mail...( OMG isnt history supposed to be about wars and stuff???..LOL..)...one of the articles is a tribute to the beginning of Pac Man..Tohru Iwatani..a game designer in Japan was eating Pizza..when he imagined such a "head" working its way throu a maze ingesting things...NOW...25 yrs later...originally named "Puck Man"..The original Pac-Man machine is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute in Wash DC....WOW!!

;D OK guys ...we are OLD...Pac Man is 25 years old now...I got my new issue of HISTORY mag today in the mail...( OMG isnt history supposed to be about wars and stuff???..LOL..)...one of the articles is a tribute to the beginning of Pac Man..Tohru Iwatani..a game designer in Japan was eating Pizza..when he imagined such a "head" working its way throu a maze ingesting things...NOW...25 yrs later...originally named "Puck Man"..The original Pac-Man machine is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute in Wash DC....WOW!!


Pac-Man is in the Smithsonian?!?  Damn, I feel old!  I can remember sinking many a quarter into this game back in 1980, in the arcade attached to the local putt putt golf course.  I even bought one of those books that had the patterns you were supposed to follow. Never could get past level 12.  Ah, those were the days!

:\'(
We've come a long way, baby.

I feel real old now!  ;D

8) Yep...I read it again today...The last line in the article is "Does anybody have a Quarter?"...OMG....Was it really 25 years ago when I was in that arcade ...playing Pac Man.. Tempest..Centipede..Galaga...I feel like crying..

Pac-Man was the first of the non-blast-the-aliens video games to make it big.  At first kids would laugh at the Pac-Man on their way to the Galaxian machine, then all of a sudden it just caught on.  Everybody was playing, it had its own breakfast serial and cartoon series!
Frogger, Dig-Dug and others were consequently release, but none was as good a Pac-Man...except maybe Ms. PacMan!

Pac-Man was the first of the non-blast-the-aliens video games to make it big.  At first kids would laugh at the Pac-Man on their way to the Galaxian machine, then all of a sudden it just caught on.  Everybody was playing, it had its own breakfast serial and cartoon series!
Frogger, Dig-Dug and others were consequently release, but none was as good a Pac-Man...except maybe Ms. PacMan!


OMG, I'd forgotten about the Pac-Man breakfast cereal!  Thanks for "resurrecting" this memory for me, MaxwellSmart!  I think it's impossible for kids today to appreciate just how important a video game that Pac-Man was back in the 80's.  I mean think about it, Pac-Man actually had a Top-40 song recorded in its honor!  I can't think of any video games since that have had such an impact (with the possible exception of few computer games such as "Doom").

P.S. -- You seem to be doing pretty good for someone who just died last week (sorry, couldn't resist -- no disrespect to Don Adams intended)

8) I am still tripping on Pac Man being in the Smithsonian!!!...Can U imagine???...what..is it in a big plastic box...or in a velvet-roped-offarea..LOL...and..Is it plugged in???  :o  maybe I need to go to bed..LOOL..

So the question I've been wondering for some time now - do people still put quarters on the machine to 'reserve' their place in line? I remember kids having dozens of quarters on the front glass, just waiting their turn.

Hell - do they still even use quarters in games? Last I saw it was a buck a play.

So the question I've been wondering for some time now - do people still put quarters on the machine to 'reserve' their place in line? I remember kids having dozens of quarters on the front glass, just waiting their turn.

Hell - do they still even use quarters in games? Last I saw it was a buck a play.

Not even sure many arcades are still open. The one here closed sometime ago. For the ones still open, I don't think you could put money down to hold a game. More then likely someone would steal it or tell you to go fluck yourself when it was your turn. Times have changed.. :(

Pac-man 25 years old!!  In the Smithsonian too! Awesome!  8)

Not even sure many arcades are still open. The one here closed sometime ago. For the ones still open, I don't think you could put money down to hold a game. More then likely someone would steal it or tell you to go fluck yourself when it was your turn. Times have changed.. :(

Pac-man 25 years old!!  In the Smithsonian too! Awesome!  8)


The only arcades I see anyomre are the small ones attached to movie theaters or a few restaurants such as Fuddruckers.  However, in these arcades, I'm seeing increasing numbers of the "multi-boxes" that can play several different games from the 80's, such as Pac-Man, Galaxia, Centipede, Dig Gug, and others.  It always warms my heart when I see artifacts from the 80's making a "guest appearance" in the present!

Yeah, the arcade is pretty much a dead buisiness. They had a cool retro one in Seattle, packed with about 25 games - Tron, Pac Man, Asteroids and so on, but it closed when they tore the building down for condos.

Gameworks downtown has a couple of multi machines - but they charge a BUCK for Ms Pac man. That's insane!

Pac-Man is 25? Ugh... I'm just like everyone else here; feeling old  :\'( It's the same age as me, and I can't stand the thought of ME being 25!

I used to watch the Pac-Man cartoon when I was just 3 years old. My family lived in an apartment for about a year in 1982-83. I can remember sitting in that apartment and watching it on tv.

I used to play Pac-Man on my dad's Apple II clone PC. It and Donkey Kong were the first two video games I ever played.

I like all the Pac-Man spin-offs.  Of the originals, Ms. Pac-Man was my favourite, but overall, I liked Pac-Mania and Pac-Land.  I sucked at Pac-Land, but nonetheless it was fun trying to get far  :)

I owned an arcade for a few years, and was also in the coinop amusements biz. Most games start at 50 cents and go up, and kids these days are staying home and playing their Xboxes and PS2s rather than going out to the arcade to hang out. Even having pool tables couldn't save my establishment. At least, being in the business and having a route, I was able to get bored kids at bowling alleys and laundromats to drop their money in. But no dice with the arcade.

I sure miss those olden golden days of the arcade.  :\'(

My arcade tribute page: http://www.atarikee.com

8) To me ...it does suck with the invention of Playstation and XBox....The whole Idea of Arcade was...Besides the Games...Getting together with friends...and hanging out....I loved the Mall..The Arcade...Now the kids just SIT on thier ass and play from the living room...BORING....AND....SAD

8) To me ...it does suck with the invention of Playstation and XBox....The whole Idea of Arcade was...Besides the Games...Getting together with friends...and hanging out....I loved the Mall..The Arcade...Now the kids just SIT on thier ass and play from the living room...BORING....AND....SAD


It is sad that kids no longer enjoy the "community experience" associated with visiting arcades.  The arcade had a much more social atmosphere -- it wasn't just about playing the video games, it also involved spending time with your friends, not to mention all the tactile sensory stimuli that goes on in an aracade (the sounds of all the different machines, the "chink-chink-chink" of people converting cash to quarters, the sticky feel of the floor where people had spilled their soft drinks (actually, that's something that I DON'T miss from the arcades!  :D ).  The thought of kids sitting in their living rooms playing console games reminds me of a Dean Koontz book called "Midnight".  In this book, experiments performed on human beings go awry.  People begin "grow" organic attachments to machines, literally becoming one with the machines.

It is sad that kids no longer enjoy the "community experience" associated with visiting arcades.  The arcade had a much more social atmosphere -- it wasn't just about playing the video games, it also involved spending time with your friends, not to mention all the tactile sensory stimuli that goes on in an aracade (the sounds of all the different machines, the "chink-chink-chink" of people converting cash to quarters, the sticky feel of the floor where people had spilled their soft drinks (actually, that's something that I DON'T miss from the arcades!  :D ).  The thought of kids sitting in their living rooms playing console games reminds me of a Dean Koontz book called "Midnight".  In this book, experiments performed on human beings go awry.  People begin "grow" organic attachments to machines, literally becoming one with the machines.
8)  COOL..I will have to read that!!