Pac-Man Turns 30
(Photo credit: maxcady808 via Flickr with Creative Commons)
Pac-Man, the pellet devouring, woka-woka-sound making, fruit-consuming arcade superstar turns 30-years-old in May. Like the Gen Xers (born 1961-81) who made him an icon, he is too young to remember Woodstock, too old not to worry about the state of Social Security.
According to a Sekita Ekrek, a New York-based entertainment PR consultant and Gen Xer, she takes at least one break during her work day to play Pac-Man on her computer. “It’s been going on for a few years now, since I rediscovered the game at a New York City bar. I can even play it on mute when I have to.”
Johna Burke, a senior Vice President for BurellesLuce, Scottsdale, Arizona, also blows off steam with midday Pac-Man breaks. She confesses sneaking out to a local pizza joint during lunch to play the arcade favorite. “I had the original portable Pac-Man and Frogger games," she says. "My Christmas wish every year is a full-size Ms. Pac-Man for my house.”
Mike McManigal, a Gen Xer born in 1965, liked Pac-Man so much, he named the software he created for his public adjusting company PACMAN - Public Adjuster Client MANagement. And, Mandy Minor, a Gen Xer born in 1975 who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, still holds fast to her 24k Pac-Man charm. “I’m saving it for my daughter,” she says.
Jimmy Moore, the 38-year-old owner of Less is Moore, Moore or Less, LLC, remembers the first time he ever played the game. “It was in a Greyhound bus station in Mississippi,” he says. “My brother and I traveled back and forth between Florida and Tennessee to visit divorced parents, so we took this trip a lot… I loved it when they sped up the character and I’d kick my brother’s butt.
“I watched the Saturday morning cartoon show and I couldn’t stop singing Pac-Man fever.”
Jay R. Koebele, also 38, remembers playing Pac-Man religiously on the Atari. “I spent countless hours playing game after game, using all of my allowance money every week playing, and buying the books that gave insider tips, secret patterns to follow.”
And Bruce Gray, a Los Angeles sculptor, liked the game so much he created hanging kinetic art mobiles inspired by Pac-Man.
For some Gen Xers, Pac-Man provided familiarity in a world framed by the instability of divorce and latchkeys; Cold War and jobless parents. “Moving a lot as a kid, the arcade was one of the few moderately consistent things in the world,” says Joseph Picard, who today, has had a hand in making games here and there.
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