Pac-Man’s First Play 44 Years Ago Today!

We can hardly believe we are typing this, but Pac-Man debuted 44 years ago today!

It was first released in Japan on May 22, 1980, and would hit the United States several months later in October.

It was likely your very first favorite video game – whether you played at home on your Atari or at your local pizza joint!

Google did a Pac-Man doodle for its 30th anniversary 10 years ago – you can give it a go right now by clicking this link! 

We also want to share with you these Five Things You Probably Don’t Know About Pac-Man!

• Pac-Man was originally called Puck Man in Japan.
• The inspiration for the Pac-Man character was a pizza with a slice removed.
• The ghosts all have different names and personalities! Blinky is red and the leader, always quick and very persistent. Inky is blue, sometimes chases and sometimes runs away from Pac-Man. Clyde is orange, a free-spirited wanderer who likes to explore the entire maze. And Pinky is of course pink, the strategist who anticipates and ambushes Pac-Man every chance it gets!
• A perfect score on the original arcade game is 3,333,360 points, achieved when the player obtains the maximum score on the first 255 levels without losing a life, then uses all six lives to obtain the maximum possible number of points on level 256.
• The first person to achieve a publicly witnessed and verified perfect score was Billy Mitchell, who performed the feat on July 3, 1999. He is recognized by Guiness World Records.

And there you have it – now you DO know these five tidbits about America’s favorite video game, Pac-Man!