The Pacman Thread

Worlds best boxer by far.

Oh, I forgot to mention that pictures are also welcome.

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This is what happens when one reaches the 256th screen.

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And I bet you didn't know our little yellow buddy has an entire nebula named in his honour.

Wrong one, that's the Jet-Set Willy nebula.

Ahem, I beg to differ Ken.

This is a photo of the Pacman nebula, named on account of its shape.  I'm not kidding by the way.  Look it up.

Maybe I've spent too long on here but it also reminds me a bit of a ladypart.

Back in 5 mins...

The maximum score on the original arcade Pacman machine was 3,333,360.

There were only 256 possible screens, at which point the game crashed and displayed the corrupted screen as shown above.

Pokermonster, did you manage it?

My high score was somewhere just over 160,000 which wasn't too shabby as it goes I think.

Hi Dave.

I reach the last screen and achieved well over three million many times, sir.  In all honesty, though, I think I just missed out on the maximum on account of allowing a couple of the blue ghosts to escape along the way.

And you're right, sir, a score of 160,000 would put you in the realms of an expert, particularly if you didn't use any patterns.

I know there is a route to follow for those later screens, once you miss one of the blues you've got to keep to your route though or they'll have you!

I had a few moves worked out at the time, but to be honest I couldn't remember them at all now.

When trying for the maximum, one of the most useful tips on Pacman is to make use of his secret hiding place.

As you can be playing for over five hours, it allows you to have something to eat, visit the loo etc.

Come on then, where is it?

It used to take me around 40 minutes to get to the 160k mark, but that tended to be my limit. I wonder if it was around that point that the pattern changed?

The hiding place was in a corner just under the spot where the bonus fruit appeared.  That said, you couldn't just go there and expect the ghosts to ignore you, they had to be manipulated into certain areas of the maze first.

There were many different patterns, Dave.  I gave up on them after a while as it was much more fun to just freewheel.

Here's another interesting Pacman fact:

The famous blackjack player, Ken Uston, once wrote a book about his love of Pacman.  It included many of the more popular patterns of the day.

From memory, a score of 160,000 would have got you around the 4th or 5th key stage, Dave.

Most of the usual patterns changed around the 9th key, at which point all future screens became the same.  Pacman slowed down considerably and the ghosts stopped turning blue after consuming the power pills.

The one I really wanted to master was Defender. High on that was about 250k. Once saw someone take it to around the limit just under 1m. He was top drawer.

I only played Defender occasionally.  I had a bit of a battle going with the arcade owner when I was a youngster: we had all the record high scores sewn up between us but I could never get near him on Defender. 

My games were: Pacman, Q Bert, Xevious and Joust.

I think my high score on Defender was only about 50,000 but I can't remember that one too well.

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Each ghost had its own unique characteristics.

In an interview, creator Toru Iwatani stated that he had designed each ghost with its own distinct personality in order to keep the game from becoming impossibly difficult or boring to play.

As a courtesy to other users, please limit yourselves to no more than three posts per day.

You should have posted before midnight, Mr Badger.  Now you've only got two left today.

oof!

An old SonyEricsson mobile phone of mine used to limit me to just one play of the built-in games before a purchase was required to play any further. Before dying/completing a level on Pacman, I'd hold cancel to escape out of the game - before the phone registered my play. This allowed me to go back and play again without paying.

Small pleasures are the best.

I prefer Frogger.

Sorry

Blasphemy!

Always wondered.

What exactly are the little things that pacman eats?

If the ghosts really are ghosts, why dont they just pass through Pacman?

In Pakistan, have they renamed it to avoid offence?

Funnily enough, Treble, the game was renamed from the original PUCK MAN because its American distributors, Bally Midway, were concerned their cabinets would be targeted by vandals looking to create an obscenity by altering the P.

Bally Midway.

Are they the company that went on to Mortal Kombat fame?

I've only ever heard the dots that Pac Man eats being referred to as... well, dots.

I'm not sure on your Mortal Combat query, Treble.  Probably.

Just checked PM. They are indeed the same company.

Something very sad must have happened to them to shift them from making games about little yellow men eating dots to games where you can rip people's heads and spinal columns off.

A sad reflection of modern tastes, Treble.

I, for one, believe the original 80s arcade games were far superior.

R-Type and Double Dragon were the nuts.

Pacman was always an opportunist.

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Treble:

Only just noticed your question about the ghosts, sir.

Occasionally, they DO pass straight through Pacman, particularly Clyde the orange one.

Here's a picture of my car (and some girl who just keeps following me around).

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1984's Pacman Zero Gravity.  It never really caught on with the purists.

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The ongoing rivalry between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe makes for quite interesting viewing.

The Red Ghost.  AKA Shadow.  AKA Blinky.

The Pink Ghost.  AKA Speedy.  AKA Pinky.

The Cyan Ghost.  AKA Bashful.  AKA Inky.

The Orange Ghost.  AKA Pokey.  AKA Clyde.

Played an original Pacman a few weeks ago in Amsterdam.  Scored a truly miserable 152,000 and only now feel able to talk about it.

Got up over a million today for the first time in a while.

Would have been better but had to abandon the game unexpectedly.

This is a documentary charting the endeavours of Steve Wiebe in beating the Donkey Kong records held by Billy Mitchell (also the official Pacman world record holder)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTtPpYBgtqI

Wikipedia would have it that only five people have ever completed Pacman.  I know of at least two others (myself included) from a tiny village.  I'm not saying I was the first, but I was definitely before Billy Mitchell, the so-called official record holder.  And having watched the documentary (linked above) I harbour deep suspicions Mr Mitchell ever achieved any such feat at all.

Since recommending the documentary linked, above, a new film has emerged which claims it is nothing but a mendacious story cooked up between the three main protagonists: Billy, Steve and Walter.  I must admit, this second video has a ring of truth about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fszs371Le0Y

Just bumping a few threads I wanted to save from the upgrade.  My apologies for cluttering the forum.

Does anyone have an original Pacman machine in their town?  The last one I saw was in Amsterdam.

Scramble far superior imo

The two documentaries listed above are worth a watch for any forty-somethings wanting to relive their youth.

cheers

My new favourite film.  Watched it on Tuesday at the cinema, supposedly nailed on for twelve academy award nominations.

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Pacman with his legendary creator, Toru Iwatani.

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The Pacman cognoscenti will recognise the subtle hatchet job director, Chris Columbus, has done on Billy Mitchell.  Good work, sir!

Is it just me who fancies Ms Pacman? The minx, shouting "chase me chase me" to the ghosts, you know she wants it.

Phwarrrr!

I'm sure you're not alone, JC.

Phwarrr!
http://www.crazykong.com/cabs/mspacman/MiniCabaret.jpg

LOL I just realised that "purple headed ghost" on the right of that image  .. "looks a bit like a thingy"