Pac Man is a video arcade game created by
Namco game designer Toru Iwatani.
PacMan was first introduced in Japan in the
autumn of 1980, and it was an instant hit. It
was soon picked up for manufacture in the U.S.
by Midway Games, and became a worldwide
phenomenon within the video game industry, as it
shattered the popular conventions set in the
field by Space Invaders. It abandoned the
'shoot-em-up action' in favor of a unique,
humorous, largely non-violent format that
appealed to girls as well as boys.
The name of the game derives from the Japanese
onomatopoeic word paku, which is the sound of
opening and closing one's mouth. The name was
romanized as Puck-Man in Japan, but the spelling
was changed to Pac-Man for the U.S. market by
Midway for fear that the machines would be
vandalized by people marking part off the 'P' to
an 'F' making an English curse word.
