30 years ago I was six years old but I remember when Pac-man first arrived on the scene. When I was a young lad, I went roller skating with my class every now and then and the skating rink always had a little section of arcade machines. Back then there were games like Tempest and Asteroids but it all changed when a certain little yellow guy came along.
I remember the long lines one had to wait to play Pac-man. Okay, so many 8-10 people isn’t a very long line but it sure seemed like it when I was six. I was totally amazed by the game and I completely sucked at it. That didn’t stop me from begging my parents to give me yet another quarter so that I could watch that wonderful screen for another sixty seconds.
Then came the whole Pac-man fever thing. You saw him everywhere! Lunch boxes, note books, book bags and a whole host of things that every kid wanted. It eventually spawned a horrible cartoon. I would like to forget it having existed but my brain won’t let me. Sometimes I’m amazed at how something like a video game can snowball into such a big pop culture icon.
At any rate, Pac-man is a part of my childhood and I still enjoy playing it after thirty years. Google’s nifty little of it is pretty damn cool but I only played it for about ten minutes. Nothing beats sitting at one of the old table top arcade machines with all your friends cheering you on. I miss those days sometimes.
