“Pac-Man Fever”: Why This Gobbling Yellow Round Creature Is Still The Highest-Grossing Arcade Game In The World

The year 1980 may be several decades in the past by now, but the infamous gobbling yellow round thingy and his nemeses – the flickering blue ghouls – remain the highest-grossing arcade game in the world. Pac-Man still being relevant in this day and age is an understatement.

The arcade game had netted $3.5 billion by 1990, as per data revealed by Gamer.net. It is also the proud owner of a Guinness world record for the most successful coin-operated arcade game of all time.

There are other video games that made an impact and had similar significance on a cultural scale. These are all featured alongside Pac-Man at the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institute. None quite measure up to Pac-Man, however. The simple yet addictive game was dominating the American market within a year of its release.

Pac-Man originated in Japan. Toru Iwatani, one of the creators of the no. 1 profit-making arcade game, worked for a company named Namco and had a light bulb moment, coming up with the name Pakku-Man, or PUCKMAN, while he was eating pizza. He revealed this in an interview.

Iwatani was then joined by Toshio Kai and Shigeo Funaki. The trio created an arcade cabinet that eventually became an immense success in their homeland. After a year, an arcade-game manufacturing company named Midway purchased the rights to release the game in America.

However, Midway owners were anxious that gamers would vandalize the cabinets if they continued to go by the name Puckman. This is why the game’s name was changed to Pac-Man. Namco re-introduced the product under the new name.

Pac-Man’s chomping protagonist was the first video game mascot to hit the zeitgeist in the ‘80s. The round gobbling creature, the fruits, and ghosts, and the iconic waka-waka sound effect remain etched in the collective consciousness of all those who played the game in its heyday.

Before too long, America was caught in the grip of “Pac-Man Fever.” Singers Buckner & Garcia even earned themselves a spot in Billboard’s Top 10 chart with a song of the same name. The franchise also branched out into several TV shows and spin-offs, such as Ms. Pac-Man, released in 1981.

The creation of Pac-Man paved the way for a new generation of game developers, including John Romero, a man who revolutionized modern video games.