Arcades emerged after video games had already become a hit, says historian Carly Kocurek, a cultural historian at the Illinois Institute of Technology and author of Coin-Operated Americans. Tasked with designing a new cabinet game, Iwatani reflected on what existing games already offered, as well as who played them-all in hopes of creating something completely new.ĭuring the late 1970s and early 1980s, video games were associated with male-dominated spaces in both Japan and the U.S. Toru Iwatani was one of the free-thinking employees who worked in Namco’s unusual environment. Masaya Nakamura, founder of Namco, was known for personally sinking hours into testing Namco's games. Back then, Namco was known for running recruiting advertisements in magazines, which called for “juvenile delinquents and C students.” Nakamura was also known for personally sinking hours into testing Namco’s games-sometimes up to 23 hours per day if the company was close to launching a new product. “I want people who think in unusual ways, whose curiosity runs away with them, fun-loving renegades,'' founder Masaya Nakamura told the New York Times in a 1983 profile. Japan’s robust economy fueled the emergence of a new, free-wheeling business culture, and Namco-the Japanese company behind Pac-Man-was part of this new wave. Pac-Man’s story began in Japan during the 1980s, during the “Japan as Number One” era, which was defined by a manufacturing boom and strong yen. During a time when video games’ default audience was adult men, Pac-Man successfully engaged women and children, becoming one of the first games to broaden the medium’s appeal in both the U.S.
But Pac-Man was innovative in other ways, too. The classic arcade game-which turns 40 on May 22-made history by launching an unprecedented merchandise empire that would later fuel collections like Crist’s. Though most Pac-Man fans fall short of Crist’s devotion, his story reflects both the intense fandom Pac-Man has inspired, and the franchise’s longevity. “I don’t remember if we asked him to play it up so crazy, or if he just took it upon himself to be a complete nut,” Czarnecki says, recalling the two days he spent filming with Crist, “but we had a lot of fun.” (Crist says he intentionally hammed it up.) At the time, Crist maintained a lighthearted religious parody blog he dubbed the Church of Pac-Man, revealing his unique and silly sense of humor. But producer Steve Czarnecki says it was Crist’s infectious energy that caught his attention, “like a larger-than-life Weird Al Yankovic” complete with long, curly hair. Other collectors had amassed more impressive caches of Pac-Man memorabilia than Crist’s hoard, which today includes Pac-Man plush toys, school supplies, a joke book, and even a full-sized arcade cabinet. Tim Crist’s hoard includes Pac-Man plush toys, school supplies, a joke book, a full-sized arcade cabinet, and more.
#Pacman tv#
To date, Crist’s stint as a reality TV star has racked up more than 3.7 million views on YouTube, solidifying his reputation as “ the Pac-Man guy” for good. The scene appeared on VH1’s Totally Obsessed, a short-lived reality show that profiled superfans. A camera crew spent two days filming, culminating in an iconic scene in which Crist drove around a mostly-empty mall parking lot-his car complete with a Pac-Man-themed steering wheel wrap and fuzzy dice-yelling “PAC-MAN!” out his open window at passers-by. In 2004, Crist’s fandom caught the attention of VH1. “ You hear about the yellow guy?” the lyrics start.
He even wrote a song about Pac-Man with his comedy synth-punk band, Worm Quartet.
#Pacman software#
Later, as an adult,, he collected Pac-Man memorabilia and used his training as a software programmer to build a game called Pac-Kombat (a two-player version of Mortal Kombat, with Pac-Man characters). But it stuck with me somehow.”Īs a kid, Crist doodled his own Pac-Men in art class-though they were green, to match the Pizza Hut cabinet’s broken screen-and poured tens of thousands of quarters into arcades. “I had no idea what I was doing with the ghosts. “I was terrible at the game,” he recalls. Crist slipped a quarter into the machine, and played Pac-Man for the very first time. It was 1981, and a new video game was getting a lot of buzz.
When Tim Crist was five years old, he walked into a Pizza Hut in Potsdam, New York, and his life changed forever.
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