It’s been a long time coming, but Pac-Man turns 30 today– that is if you are Japanese. American arcade buffs will have to wait until October for the milestone. Where did the time go? Visit the official Pac-Man website.

My first recollections of Pac-Man were from inside a dark arcade. A little yellow character eating dots being chased by ghosts, all the wile being encased in a soft, blue glow from the maze pattern. Even until this day, when I see that blue glow I instantly go back to the early 1980s. Thankfully I have an original arcade “cocktail” machine, so I can pretty much get my fix anytime I want. You can find out more about my Pac-Man machine and the restoration I performed on it. I don’t know which was more fun, playing the game or fixing it.

Without A Thought For Tomorrow

When I was a kid back in 1982/1983, I was a total Pac-Punk. I had the stickers, cereal, Mac & Cheese, video game, slippers, and countless other Pac-Paraphernalia. And don’t forget about the cartoon! It wasn’t until The Transformers about a year later that I gave Pac-Man a game over. But I never really forgot about him. Besides my arcade machine, I have Pac-Man on both my iPhone and my iPad. The iPad version is really nice. However, you can’t hide in a “T” anymore. Don’t know what that means? You’re probably too young. For a great Pac-Primer, visit The Virtual Pac-Man Museum.

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I’ve heard of digg.com before, but never actually visited the site until a couple days ago. I knew it was a great place to go to find interesting stories for tech-related topics, but since I had my news sites bookmarked, I figured I had enough of an information base to work with.

Start The Presses

With digg though, users become the editors and choose what stories appear on the home page. They simply choose to “digg” the stories they feel should be read by others. Over time, you get a great selection of stories from all genres, from technology to software to science.

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In May 2000, I was lucky enough to purchase a Pac-Man cocktail arcade machine. The machine was in working order, and the outside of the machine was in remarkable condition. The inside however, did show its age. Overall, the machine was a beauty, and well worth the $1,699.00 I paid.

From 20 years of dust, smoke and grime, the inside was like a nightmare. The wires were brittle and dirty. The transformers looked horrible. Solder joints looked like they would fail any moment. In short, the inside needed some work. But it wouldn’t be until some four years later that I actually did the complete re-wire.

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