Pac-Man, Donkey Kong … we’ll never forget you! A few of your favorite advocates are ensuring as much, inducing you into the International Video Game Hall of Fame ceremonies beginning today. (Yes, Pac-Man’s international influence is not to be ignored.)
Ah, how I remember my ColecoVision and Atari. I remember those days at Pizza Hut cashing in Book-It! stickers and battling technicolor ghosts on Pac-Man arcade games. I remember the feminist glory of that red-bowed Ms. Pac-Man. Viva la revolution!
A couple of video game histories agree that those first animated cat-and-mouse maze-blazes deserve eternal preservation and are commemorating their influence in a new museum in, of all places, Ottumwa, Iowa. The Midwestern mecca earned the honor because it’s the site of the now gone Twin Galaxy Arcade — popular for early gaming competitions. Hailing from an Illinois town bordering Iowa, I can assure you that video game escapes in the region were quite necessary reprieves from mall-walking and fort-building.
According to USA Today, organizers are in the process of raising funds “to collect at least one each of the more than 100,000 coin arcade and home video games produced in the last 25 years.” Take note, collectors with pinball machines and arcade games in your basements — now’s the time to cash in.
If you feel like gobbling up some white dots right now, we have an online version of Pac-Man that you can play sans quarters from the comfort of your desk.
Photo courtesy of Hot Grill via Flickr.
Caroline Walker is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor. She has worked in both the entertainment and the nonprofit sector. Walker holds a BA from the University of Southern California and an MA from New York University’s Gallatin School.
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They are only inducting pacman now? That is a glassic video game. Crazy.