Happy Birthday Pac-Man!

Today, Pac-Man turns 30 years old!

I remember the first time I saw Pac-Man. It was in the little dark pizza place near where I lived. I must have been around 11 years old and it was one of the first video games I had ever seen. I remember dumping quarter after quarter into the machine while drinking Pepsi after Pepsi trying to get the high score. I never got the high score. Well, not until the fragile local power grid helped me out.

There had been a thunderstorm that morning, and the power was out in the whole neighborhood for a couple hours. When I went to play Pac-Man later that day, all of the high scores had been zeroed out! I finally had a chance and I did it. I got the high score. Proud of myself I headed home feeling like a king. That was until the next day when I went back and not one, but 4 people had beaten my high score with scores that I had never come close to.

Pac-Man was first released 30 years ago and in that time there have been a couple dozen off-shoot games. It's available on just about every single platform you can imagine. There was even a cartoon series for a short while.

But what we remember most is the original video game. The original is still the best.

To celebrate the birthday, Namco has decided to put all of the Pac-Man games for the iPhone and iPad on sale through Sunday evening.

Also on sale are Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Pac-Man Remix.

Happy Birthday Pac-Man! You don't look a day over 25!