The mechanics of this game couldn’t be simpler, but at the same time, they couldn’t be more addictive. We control a character who moves inside a maze and we must eat all the “pellets”, that’s the name of the white dots.
During the game we are chased by Blink, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, four ghosts who want to catch us. You pass the level once you have eaten all the dumplings without being caught by the ghosts. Note that there are four “power pellets” which, when ingested by Pac-Man, make the ghosts vulnerable and give us the opportunity to eat them and gain more points.
What do Pac-Man and pizza have to do with it?
Toru Iwatanicreator of the game, was looking to develop something that could compete with Space Invaders, the arcade game of the moment. The idea was to make a game accessible and attractive to all types of audiences, particularly women. You should know that arcade games were violent and did not interest women at the time.
Iwatani has repeatedly acknowledged that the idea of Pac-Man character it occurred to him eat A pizza. He said that when he removed the first part, he saw the circle that remained and that it reminded him of an open mouth. This is how he got his inspiration for the character, making the concept easy to understand and visually distinctive.
Th is is not the only aspect in which diet has a clear influence on the game. Iwanati recognizes that the act of eating is something universal and can attract both female and male audiences. The concept of “eating” led him to conceive the objective of the game: move through a maze and eat all the dots (pellets).
The idea was simple and suited the “ghosts” well. The objective of these is always to try to prevent “Pac-Man” from completing the task of eating all the pellets on the map.
His idea of developing a non-violent game, attractive to all audiences, already had all the elements. Little did I know that this simple game, with no shots or explosions, was going to be one of the most important in history.
Although food plays a crucial role in the game, it contains other cultural elements. He points out that one of his ideas was to evoke the fear of ghosts (deeply rooted in Japanese folklore) as an obstacle for the user.
He took into account that these ghosts should not be scary, quite the contrary. I had to create nice, light-hearted antagonists that fit the idea of the game. He achieved this by caricaturing the ghosts and making them “friendly”.
Iwatani believed that women would like to have something as mundane as eating in the game. Something that was like that and managed to generate great success in arcades that still lasts today.
