Adam Bloom: That maze, when you're being chased down a maze and
you've got to use quick thinking to get out. I mean that is a
cerebral thing.
Gary
Shail: You've got them coming this way and you've got them coming
that way. Now which way do you go?
Adam
Bloom: You've got to work out, how, back in and out down the alleyway you come back out the other end again.
Gary
Shail: Go now or stay and get noshed.
Adam
Bloom: Wonderful. Really, really original.
Wayne
Hemingway: The thing that I really remember about it is the name
Namco.
Keith
Ainsworth [making Pac-man eating hand movements]: Wacca wacca
wacca wacca.
Wayne
Hemingway: It's like Acme was, you know, when you see an old cartoon.
But Namco kind of sum up the early electronic games from the early
eighties.
Joanne
Catherall [making hand movements]: woc woc woc woc.
Wayne
Hemingway: Pac-man by Namco.
[Shots
of Toru Iwatani walking through the Namco building in Japan]
Toru
Iwatani: I liked pinball and I thought I had joined a company
which made pinball machines. But the company didn't make pinball
machines. So I was quite disappointed. But then I thought, why
not make something like a combination between pinball and a video
game.
US
80's news footage: Mostly you'll find it inside arcades. The most
popular electronic game ever.
Keith
Ainsworth: Before Pac-man the majority of the games were space
themed.
[shot
of someone playing Defender]
Jamie
Theakston: Pac-man was a man who ate spots.
Toru
Iwatani: One lunchtime I ordered a pizza. And as I was eating
it, I thought that if you take out one slice it becomes the Pac-man
shape. And I decided, okay, let's use this shape.
[cuts
between Keith Ainsworth explaining the game and Iwatani drawing
ghost monster diagrams]
Keith
Ainsworth: Pac-man is really really straightforward. You're in
a maze. Which has 240 dots. You control a little yellow eating
mouth. There are four ghost monsters there with different colours
and they chase after you. Normally they'll kill you but if you
eat the big dots in the corner the ghost monsters change to a
dark blue colour.
Toru
Iwatani: When you eat this, Pac-man and the monsters swap sides.
So Pac-man is able to eat the monsters instead.
Jamie
Theakston: And then cherries came in at some stage as well. I
don't know why that was. I'm surprised that managed to capture
the public's imagination in the way it did.
US
80's new report: Six billion dollars got fed into video game slots
last year. That's double what Americans spent to go to the movies.
Quentin
Willson: Its simplicity, its innocence, its ordinariness absolutely
captured our imagination. It was a craze that just swept the country
and in fact the world.
US
anti-game protestor: The citizens of Brookhaven have overwhelmingly
demonstrated their opposition to the massive proliferation of
video games.
US
80's news report: Pac-man has become a national phenomenon. The
little yellow creature is showing up everywhere.
News
report from old peoples home: It's the sound of Pac-man and lately
a growing number of residents have been skipping their naps to
play.
Gary
Shail: Do you remember the ones in the pubs? The tables that you
can put your beer down.
Joanne
Catherall: But it's not a table it's a computer game, you put
your money in.
Gary
Shail: It was fantastic because you couldn't concentrate on anything
else.
Joanne
Catherall: You'd sit for hours and hours making this thing go
woc woc woc woc.
Old
people's home resident: She's having a heck of a good time. If
she wasn't here she'd be in her room, lying groaning.
US
80's news report: In addition to the games there are spin-offs.
Keith
Ainsworth: Pac-man cups
US
news: T-shirts
Toru
Iwatani: Key holders
US
news: Neck ties
Keith
Ainsworth: Duvets
US
news: Beer Mugs
Toru
Iwatani: Piggy Bank
US
news: Tote Bags
Keith
Ainsworth: the Chewing gum
US
news: Pillows
Keith
Ainsworth: Pencils
US
news: Balloons
Keith
Ainsworth: Stickers
US
news: Board games
Keith
Ainsworth: Erasers
US
news: Books
Keith
Ainsworth: Mugs
US
news: Hats
Toru
Iwatani [holding a Pac-man stuffed toy]: It's very soft and cuddly.
This
document can be found at
the
Retrogamer fanzine site: http://www.retrogamerfanzine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
If
you have a sudden desire to play Pac-man, take a look at
the versions available for a wide variety of computers and consoles for
sale here.
