Pac-Man Is 40
It was May 22, 1980, and American kids – as well as their poor, bewildered parents – had no clue what was about to hit them.
Pac-Man, the revolutionary video game released by the Japanese company Namco, emerged from the Far East like a modern-day Godzilla, laying waste to anything and everything in the video game landscape.
With its colorful design, likeable character and simple eat-the-dots maze gameplay, Pac-Man was instantly addictive. What’s more, the cute and cartoonish game was attractive to women and teenage girls, a breakthrough in the burgeoning video game world dominated by testosterone.
By one count, Namco sold 400,000 Pac-Man machines, head and shoulders above anything that had come before, or since.
But Pac-Man was more than a hit video game. It was a happening. Everywhere you looked, there was Pac-Man: On cereal boxes, T-shirts, pajamas, lunch boxes, television, even on radio as a hit song, “Pac-Man Fever.” The lovable scamp was gaming’s first true franchise.
To celebrate 40th birthday, we sat down with noted toy expert Mark Bellomo, author of , and a playing fool back in the day, to discuss the game’s popularity and to relive the glorious days when video arcades were boss.
