From August 1 – 10, the Evolution of Gaming exhibit is happening at the Centre for Digital Media’s Hangar (577 Great Northern Way). Offering FREE admission, this is going to be a celebration and exploration of 40 different classic video games, including the much-loved Pac-man. Learn more (and register to attend: space is limited) at evolutionofgaming.ca.
Photo courtesy Evolution of Gaming
BONUS ROUND - some PAC FACTS for you to chomp on:
- It is estimated that towards the end of the twentieth century, Pac-Man gobbled up more than 10 billion quarters ($2.5 billion).*
- Pac-Man was awarded “The Most Successful Coin Operated Game” by the Guinness Book of World Records.**
- A “perfect” Pac-Man game occurs when the player achieves the maximum possible score on the first 255 levels (by eating every possible dot, power pellet, fruit and enemy) without losing a single life, and then scoring as many points as possible on the last level.*
- The arcade version of Pac-Man has a highest possible score of 3,333,360.*
- Rather than the ability to play the game indefinitely, as it was designed, Pac-Man has a bug and the game goes into “split-screen” mode if a player reaches level 256.*
- Pac-Man inspired merchandise, a television series called Pac-Man: The Animated Series, and the top-ten hit single Pac-Man Fever.*
- When Google put a fully playable version of Pac-Man on its home page in May of 2010 to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary, it was estimated that 4.8 million hours were wasted by people playing it – at a cost of more than $120 million to the economy.***
- Japanese company Bandai Namco (Namco was Pac-Man’s creator) recently set up a studio in Vancouver at the Centre for Digital Media.
