![]() Looks and stares followed us as we coasted through traffic with people pointing and laughing. I climbed in the back, wedging the furry frame down. My freckled faced hostess – a girl not much older than me – was waiting in the passenger seat. The little man with the dark curly hair and overgrown mustache guided me to the parking lot and instructed me to climb onto an open jeep. 1982: I was a teenage Pac-Man mascotĪs I walked out of the station, giggles and cackles followed me. I felt a little slow on the uptake, but it was now sinking in with what I had agreed to do for the rest of the summer. I swiveled and bobbed, sticking my arms out of the small holes on each side. Inside, a lightweight aluminum steel cage was molded as the Pac-Man skeleton. A pair of fuzzy gloves were tossed my way. The black, nylon mouth gaped open as it came to a stop. ![]() I was staring at a gigantic Pac-Man coming my way. ![]() I shut the door and stripped to my gitch, putting on the bright and baggy jogger outfit.Ī man – whom I had never met before – opened the door and pulled in an enormous yellow round thing, covered in fur. Not really my color, but whatever,” I thought. Inside, matching cotton sweat pants and a sweatshirt. Sure enough, on the first day of the promotion, all the prizing was laid out, plus a plastic bag with my name on it. “Oh, uh…you know, stickers, candy and stuffed toys – that kind of thing.” The promotions director mentioned I would be provided with a new sweatsuit to wear and I would have a hostess to help me. It was a paid job, and all I had to do was go to shopping malls and events and hand out prizes to throngs of kids. The first video game to have a top ten hit song, and the first video game to have its own mascot.ĭuring the spring of 1982, I was a teenager working part time at a radio station and was offered a chance to work an upcoming promotion through the summer months. It was the first video game to have its own TV series. The world was living through a Pac-Mandemic. Hell, April 3rd 1982 officially became “Atarinational Pac-Man Day.” Teenage gamers glowed bright yellow and happily gulped multi-colored ghosts. Pac-Man toys, stickers, posters, roller skates, backpacks, phones, watches, jewelry, bedding, books, puzzles. Pac-Man cereal and pasta in the grocery aisle. Pac-Mania had spread throughout the land. Now, just as many girls as guys stood around each other, watching the screen and waiting for a chance to have a go at the gobbling maze. There were only a handful to choose from. In the beginning – we’re talking 1978 or so – video games leaned more toward attracting boys than girls. Kids were now more likely to use pinball machines as a place to lay their coats and backpacks on, rather than slip a quarter into. Arcades had moved to stocking coin-operated video games. By 1980 their domination as the “game of choice” had ended. Pinball machines feverishly tried to keep pace. The coin-operated video game explosion of the 1980’s was literally a ‘game changer’ with how kids spent their free time (and their money.) You hear the tune and are instantly sent back. Songs have a way of attaching themselves to a moment that never fades.
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