Pac-Man
It's from 1980, before you were born.
- Developer
- Namco
- Genre
- Maze / arcade
- Debut
- Arcade (1980)
- Designer
- Toru Iwatani
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About
As of 2026, it's 46 years old.
Pac-Man is a yellow circle with a relentless eating compulsion being chased through a maze by four ghosts with distinct personality disorders, and in 1980 it became the most popular arcade game on Earth. It's a snacking simulator where, briefly, the snack gets to fight back.
It broke the arcade's macho 'shoot the aliens' mold by being cute, simple, and impossibly addictive, then spawned merchandise, a hit song, and a cartoon — the first genuine video-game celebrity.
Round, hungry, and immortal, Pac-Man proved you don't need a plot when you have a maze, some dots, and the primal urge to flee ghosts named Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
