Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary

and launch of Retrobabble

30 years ago today Japanese games company Bandai Namco gave birth to one of the biggest cultural icons ever, PUCKMAN.

Yes thats right PUCKMAN. So named becuase he resembled a hockey puck. Of course it sounded a bit naughty so of course it was changed for us sensitive westerners.

Legend has it that Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani came up with the design for the guy whilst eating a pizza. When the first slice of the pizza was cut out, it looked similar to a head with it's mouth open.

The game was also designed around eating food with the intention of appealing to women (!) in response to the slew of 'shoot the alien' games that were dominant at the time.

And what a game it turned out to be. Spawning endless clones, conversions, cartoons, tabletop games, scratchcards, tattoos and t-shirts pacman soon became everyone's favourite game character.

If you havent seen it - check out the google homepage and click INSERT COIN for a playable version of the game in their logo. how cool.

Today being Pac-Mans 30th birthday also seemed like a fitting moment to launch the beta release of the Retrobabble site. So here we are.

Long live Pac-Man...

and Inky...

and Blinky...

and Clyde...

and the other one...