In 1977, a man named Toru Iwatani started working at an entertainment company called Namco Limited in Japan.
Iwatani had no formal training in computers or visual arts—which was where Namco made most of its money—
but the company promised that they would find a niche for him. So he took the job.
Iwatani’s first job at Namco was to name the new video games that they produced,
and soon with a bit of training he began to work on the video games themselves.
His first endeavors were in the realm of paddle games; he created a game called Gee Bee that was similar to Breakout (also known as brick-breaker).
But paddle games were quickly falling by the wayside, due to the release of one of the most famous video games ever: Space Invaders.
Game manufacturers everywhere rushed to match its unprecedented success; how could Iwatani and Namco compete with such a game?
Iwatani’s idea came from a children’s story about a creature that ate evil monsters in order to protect innocent people.
He named the creature “Puck-man” after the Japanese phrase to describe someone chewing food (“paku paku”).
After deciding upon four ghosts as the monsters in the game, he presented the idea to Namco, and development began.
The game was a year-and-a-half in the making, during which time Iwatani and his team wrestled with tweaking the game difficulty,
modifying the methods by which the ghosts chased Puck-man, and adding in bonuses like energizers
(wherein for a brief time Puck-man chased the ghosts rather than vice-versa).
Finally, on May 22nd, 1980, Puck man was released in Japan.
Its success there was unimpressive, but when the game arrived in America, its popularity skyrocketed.
A few modifications were made: the ghosts were given English names (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde)
and the game was renamed Pac-man (“Puck-man” was just a little too close to something else).
Soon Pac-man became a global phenomenon: over 100,000 machines were sold in the first year alone,
and by 1982 merchandise for the game was everywhere.
Now, more than thirty years after its original release in Japan, Pac-man remains one of the world’s most
iconic video games, and the small munching yellow character is still the most widely recognized video game
character in America; his likeness has been licensed to over 400 companies for 250 products.
There is even a Pac-man machine at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
For more information about Pac-man—its implementation, characters, and fun facts—please consider the following links.
