Columnist Bill Knight recalls Pac-Man : A fine fad from simpler, innocent times
Star Courier
Eleven years ago this week, the Festival of Games in the Netherlands presented a Guinness World Records honor to Toru Iwatani for having the world’s highest number of “coin-operated arcade machines.” The number was then 293,822, and it was “Pac-Man.”
The best-selling and highest-grossing arcade game of all time, “Pac-Man” at first was exclusively an arcade game, soon breaking the mold of other games by appealing to dedicated and casual gamers alike. The game grew into a booming licensing franchise, as other games, merchandise, and even a television cartoon series featuring its title character appeared in the 1980s.