Yes, I know, two posts with nearly identical titles in only one week’s time… but by some weird coincidence this year is turning out to be packed with landmark anniversaries for things that really don’t seem like they happened all that long ago. Today’s impossible-that-so-much-time-has-passed event is the release of the arcade video game Pac-Man, which holds the Guinness World Record for “the world’s most successful coin-operated game.”
There are a handful of video games that were so mind-boggling to me for one reason or another that I can still remember the place and circumstances in which I first encountered them. Space Invaders, for instance — I saw my first SI game at a grotty old movie theater called the Greenbriar, which ran a special program of Saturday double-features for the kids every summer, in association with the local PTA. (Most memorable bill: Clash of the Titans with Dragonslayer… now that was an afternoon’s entertainment!) One weekend, though, nobody seemed much interested in the movie… instead, we were all in the lobby, clustered around this tall wooden cabinet from which some really weird sounds were emanating. I can still recall the feel of a quarter clenched in my moist palm, the knurled edge biting into my skin; the smell of musty carpet, fresh popcorns, and overheated (i.e., sweaty) kids; and the pleasure of shooting down 8-bit aliens on the march, only to become clenched by a ratcheting sense of anxiety as that last little bugger evaded my turbolaser and raced for the surface. It was, in a word, an amazing experience unlike anything I’d ever done before, and it obviously etched itself deeply into my memory.
Pac-Man, not so much. I mean, I played Pac-Man, I liked Pac-Man, but it was a different experience from my first encounter with Space Invaders… or Zaxxon, which upped the realism factor by adding a third dimension to your avatar’s maneuverability… or Gauntlet, which could be played by four people simultaneously, and was really just a kick-ass game anyway. Pac-Man, on the other hand, was simply a ubiquitous part of the background noise of my early adolescence. A very pleasant noise, to be sure… the opening theme song and the pathetic little “zoink-zoink” sound when ol’ Packy gets eaten can still bring a smile to my face. But I can’t remember the first time I saw or played the game; it seems like all of a sudden, it was just all over the place, appearing fully grown overnight like dandelions on the front lawn. And it still is all over, if you’re paying attention. Arcades have gone away and cabinet-style coin-op games are pretty rare in general, but if you encounter a vintage game out there somewhere, odds are good that it’s going to be a Pac-Man… or at least one of those combo units that have several classic games in one cabinet, and Pac-Man is always an option in those. The longevity of the cute little yellow mouth and the pop-eyed ghosts who are his mortal enemies is nothing less than astounding.
If you haven’t seen it already, Google has done something pretty cool to celebrate 30 years of that “wocka-wocka-wocka” sound. The search engine site has replaced its usual banner with a fully playable (if weirdly elongated) recreation of the game:
Just click the “Insert Coin” button and you’re right back in middle school, gobbling those power-pills and chasing Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde around the maze at breakneck — well, okay, maybe not so fast — speed. I’ve been hearing the opening theme and the sound effects all over my cube farm this morning, and it’s making an otherwise stressed-out Friday a lot more enjoyable. Also a lot less productive, but given the pace we’ve been keeping lately, I’m all for that…
Anyhow, there’s a brief article on the anniversary and Google’s commemoration of it here, or you can just hit Google’s homepage and commence to playing.
Check out the official Pac-Man page too!
