Can you also believe that the original game is 34 years old - wow that makes me feel old!
Pac-Man, one of the most popular and beloved video games of the 1980s was first introduced to us in October 1980 and has enjoyed massive success ever since.
In it's first year alone, the game sold over 100,000 units in America, making it an instant success. Kids would fill arcades everywhere just to spend their pennies on playing the game.
The idea of Pac-Man is to eat 240 dots whilst being chased (and if unlucky eaten) by the 4 four ghosts - Blinky, Inky, Pinky & Clyde. However you did have four power pellets which, when eaten, would turn the ghosts blue and you could then eat them to score more points. With 255 levels to play, you could score additional bonus points by eating the various fruits on offer (these would appear randomly on each level), these included a cherry, strawberry, orange, apple and even a key at the highest level (something I've never achieved).
In 1981, Ms Pac-Man was introduced to the gaming public. The format of her game was the same, but she had multiple mazes, moving fruit & faster gameplay. This too became a success, but many die-hards weren't impressed and preferred the original format of Pac-Man which was still popular and still outsold Ms Pac-Man.
During 1982, Hannah-Barbera introduced the cartoon series of Pac-Man to the USA tv screens. It also featured in the UK as part of Timmy Mallett's Wide Awake Club - something that I used to get up early on School Holidays to watch.
Not only was Pac-Man a video game and a cartoon, there was also a single released under the branding called PAC-MAN FEVER which sold over 1,000,000 units.
Pac-Man fever was definitely high and the demand was getting bigger & better. Pac-Man was also awarded by the Guinness World Records as the "Most Successful Coin Operated Game".
From a simple idea, the branding grew to be one of the best brands of the 80s. Who would have though that this game which was only 24kb in size (one for the computer geeks) would become so popular.
To this very day, the game is still being played (and let's admit it, it's most people's favourite game - I know it's mine). It help pave the way for the games of today.
Here's a little link to play the game online, have fun : http://www.freepacman.org/welcome.php
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