TheBanyanTree: Happy Birthday Pac-Man!

[trebro at att.net]

I read in this article:  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05166/521456.stm" that Pac-Man turns 25 this year.

While I'm not very good at the original, Pac-Man is still one of my favorite games of all time.  I always would try to get a quarter off of mom or Gram (never dad--he didn't and doesn't like video games) anytime I saw Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man.

I don't know what it is that attracts me to the game.  The article mentions it was the first game where you were a "thing" instead of an object, but I don't think it's quite that.  Maybe it's the idea of a maze that has to be run over and over again that fascinates me.

When I was a little boy, I remember drawing chalk Pac-Mans in various colors all over the porch.  Then I progressed to mazes for them, and later, I used those mazes as my first "courses" when I'd race my matchbox cars.  But I never gave up on Pac-Man, still playing when I had the chance.

My longest stretch of playing came when I was at Penn State.  There was a great arcade place on the main street, and I would spend way too much time for my own good in there, often with my friend John.  John and I would play Pac-Man Arrangement in VS mode, trying to gobble the most points while not getting killed.  John, who lived closer to the arcade and practiced more often, beat me more often than not.  Still, it was a blast, and one of my few good Penn State memories.

Ironically, I only ever owned the game once before a month or so ago--a Microsoft games pack that never played well because the joystick didn't react fast enough.  I didn't play it much at all.  Now I have a GBA version, bundled with Pacmania, Pac Attack, and Pac-Man Arrangement.  I'm probably going to wear the darn thing out trying to beat the games.

I should also mention that I am the owner of the very cool *board game* version of Pac-Man and the not-quite-as-cool *board game* version of Ms. Pac-Man.  The former is cooler because it features marbles(!) instead of little plastic discs.  

So here's to one of the best, Pac-Man.  Long may he chomp!

-Rob
http://www.livejournal.com/users/trebro