Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 19

Section Wednesday January 6, 1982 Page 19 Amusements22-27 Comics28-29 Larry Fields23 TV28-29 ra around which is nonviolent. No laser blasters allowed! Critics dub the Pac-Man "the perfect game for obsessive eaters" and "the video game for slow learners." For sure, you don't need an advanced degree in engineering to master this Man. (Many of his biggest fans are women.) Nor, apparently, is it all that difficult for electronics firms to copy Pac-Man's computer board circuitry. Ban-dai Electronics' look-alike, act-alike, handheld game, Packri Monster, was a very big seller at about $40 a pop this gift season. Television advertisements for the Mag-navox Odyssey 2 cartridge game system have been zooming in on a dot-gobbling maze runner named K.C.

Mun-chkin. In the electronics industry, such game mimics are called "cheaters." In this case, they've so upset Pac-Man's exclusive. Western Hemisphere license holder Midway Manufacturing (a division of Bally) that the Illinois-based firm has instituted legal actions against both Bandai and Magnavox. For sure, big bucks are at stake. Midway sales manager Stan Jarocki confirms as "pretty accurate" an industry estimate that Pac-Man machines are gobbling up 12 million quarters a week.

"It's the world's most popular video game, bigger than Space Invaders, which we also manufactured, and bigger than Atari's Asteroids," touts Jarocki. "We've just manufactured our Pac-Man arcade game, and for a game that's been out since late 1980, it's sustaining great. We've got a good, three year run left on Pac-Man, before he wears out his welcome." MEANWHILE, Midway is also discovering that the Pac-Man is a very valuable trade mark property, reaping big rewards in other uses. "We licensed the Buckner Garcia record," details Jarocki. "You'll be seeing the Pac-Man figure on numerous items tote bags, bath towels, lunch boxes, wrapping paper, greeting cards Of course, offically authorized home versions of the game are also in the offing.

"That's the real future for the game," says Stan Jarocki, "reaching the games players who don't go into arcades." This week, Coleco is introducing a tabletop version of the electronic game to retail for less than $60. Coleco marketing VP Michael Katz expects "explosive" sales. "It should be tremendous because arcade games are the current rage." A battery-powered, mini-version of the game (Pac-Man Junior?) is also on the way from Tomy. The computer game system rights for Pac-Man have been snapped up by Atari, and the company was loudly touting the coup in pre-Christmas advertisements. In fact.

Atari's Pac-Man cartridge won't be available for sale until spring at the earliest. But there's no harm in whetting people's appetites, is there? "Cause I got Pac-Man FeverIt's drivin' me crazyI got Pac-Man fever I'm goin'out of my mind." Song lyric bv J. Buckner G. Garcia, copyright 1981. got Pac-Man feverIt's drivin' me crazy I got Pac-Man feverI'm goin'out of my mind." By JONATHAN TARIFF The soothing sound of electronic gurgles and whistles was heard all across the land this holiday season.

Yup, it seems like everybody and his brother got a computer game system or handheld electronic game for Christmas or Hanukkah. And you couldn't even escape the seductive call to play by flipping on the FM. Instead of "Deck the Halls" and "Auld Lang Syne." radio was whoop-whooping it up with the festive, electro-rockabilly sound of "Pac-Man Fever," Messrs. Buckner 8r Garcia's anthem for what is now America's most popular electronic arcade game and will doubtless prove the top home game of 1982. For the uninitiated, take note: Pac-Man is no mere craze.

It's got all the trappings of a major epidemic. "1 got a pocket full of quarters and I'm headed for the arcadeI dont have a lot of money but I'm bringin' everything I madeI got a callous on my finger and my shoulder's hurtin' tooll'm gonna eat 'em all up just as soon as they turn blue." "The teens are going crazy for the record," acknowledges Roy Laurence, program director of Philadelphia's "Hot Hits" radio station WCAU-FM. "It's the biggest novelty record we've seen since 'General ACCORDING to a Columbia Records spokesperson in New York. "Pac-Man Fever" has sold "close to 300,000 copies in just three weeks," which is close to phenomenal. "We picked the record up for national distribution, after the original release on BGO Records sold 20,000 copies just in the Atlanta area." detailed my label source.

"All we've had time to learn is that the authors are from Akron. Ohio, and that their background is in commercial (jingles) production." "I've got all the patterns down, up until the ninth keyI speedy on my tail and I know it's either him or meSo I'm headin'out the back door and in the other sideGonna eat them cherries up and take 'em all for a ride." Pac-Man is a cute little gobbling creature who scurries through a maze, in hot pursuit of yummy dots while trying to avoid being eaten by monsters. When the Pac-Man eats a couple of special appetizers, the monsters are magically transformed into delectible edibles, the Pac-Man's main (point-scoring) prey. Then look out, it's lunch time! "Now I've got him on the run and I'm lookin' for the high scoreSo it's once around the block and I slide back out the side doorUhlVm really cookin' now, eatin' everything in sight I All my money's gone so IH be back tomorrow night." FANS DUB Pac-Man "cute" and "good clean fun," noting that this is one of the precious few video games DC.