Pac-Man, 45: Why the game changed video games (and the world) — and now wants to win over Gen Z

The iconic Pac-Man game was born in the late 1970s, when Toru Iwatani was eating a salami pizza. After taking the first slice, the Japanese game designer was startled to see a circular shape staring at him.

"If you take a pizza and take a slice off, what's left looks like a mouth," Iwatani told Wired in 2010, confirming the veracity of this urban legend.

Looking at his greasy plate, Iwatani surely knew he was looking at the perfect video game character—a tireless eating machine. And so Pac-Man was born, which this year celebrates 45 years since its original arcade release.

In Pac-Man, the player controls a greedy yellow ball that must navigate dark, ever-changing mazes, eating as many coins as possible — all while escaping the Ghost Gang, made up of Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (blue) and Clyde (orange).

"Pac-Man [the character] was created to represent the central concept of the game, which is eating, in the simplest way possible," explains Michiko Kumagai, character licensing manager at Bandai Namco, the game's publisher.

"Like the McDonald's arches, he has become an internationally recognized symbol. Just by looking at him once, everyone instinctively understands what Pac-Man means, and that's why he has reached such a wide audience."

Originally called PuckMan in Japan, a reference to the phrase "paku paku taberu", which means to make a chewing sound while eating something, Pac-Man is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the most successful coin-operated arcade game of all time.

The character remains an enduring symbol to this day, with the franchise generating an estimated $14 billion in revenue, both from arcade machines and dozens of re-releases for home consoles. The games have been released on platforms ranging from the classic Nintendo to the Xbox.

In recent years, Pac-Man has also won over new audiences with cameo appearances in big-budget animated films, including Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Pixels (2015). Last month, Bandai Namco released Shadow Labyrinth , a game that puts a fresh spin on classic Pac-Man gameplay.

Why the game works so well

"Pac-Man is one of the symbols of the birth of video games for the general public," says Peter Etchells, professor of Science Communication at Bath Spa University in the United Kingdom.

"There was an elegance to the simplicity of this game and its design that I believe captured the imagination of many players."

You don't have to be a dedicated gamer to appreciate the character's main objective, which is to eat strategically. Pac-Man's gameplay is simultaneously incredibly simple and ultimately challenging to master.

In the original version, players could frantically race through the maze without much thought or follow the path most people took in the 1980s: reading the How to Win at Pac-Man manual, which taught them how to memorize hundreds of complex maze patterns and optimal routes.

This type of tactical preparation prepared the player to compete in Pac-Man championships — thousands were held around the world.

Etchells points out that Pac-Man's proposition was much less "testosterone" driven than many other games, and that was one of the big reasons for its success.

"Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani explicitly stated that he intended to create a game for everyone to enjoy, especially women," he says.

"That's why Pac-Man and its colorful sequels, like 1982's Ms. Pac-Man, stood out from the predominantly male-oriented, shooter-based games of the era like Asteroids and Space Invaders because they targeted a much wider audience."

In a 2020 interview with the Washington Post, Iwatani said the game also had deeper connections to Japanese culture than previously thought.

"I created the ghosts to be simple and cute. This harkens back to the ancient Japanese appreciation of wabi-sabi , where people find fleeting beauty and depth in simplicity. I think the world's growing acceptance of this Japanese aesthetic has also led to more people enjoying Pac-Man."

Pac-Man and his contribution to science

Besides its unique design and appeal to diverse audiences, both male and female, Pac-Man has also left its mark on the world of science. The game, like Tetris, has proven to be a useful tool for researchers understanding the problem-solving limitations of human brains, and even chimpanzees.

A 2007 study by Dean Mobbs and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology subjected Pac-Man players to electric shocks whenever they were caught by a ghost.

"This study used MRI scans to see if brain activity changed when ghosts got very close. And it did," says Tom Garner, professor of interactive technologies at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.

"Monkeys have also been playing Pac-Man in recent years. A 2024 study by Z. Lin and colleagues at Cornel University found a link between certain patterns in monkeys' eye movements and their decisions in the game, while the National Library of Medicine used Pac-Man to reveal that capuchin monkeys can use a hierarchical system of decision-making based on strategies, something previously thought to be beyond the cognitive capabilities of animals."

"Video games like Pac-Man have had a significant impact on the field of scientific research. Pac-Man is a great way to help better understand how humans think, feel, and behave."

According to Garner, the reason Pac-Man was — and still is — so loved by so many people is linked to the way the game uses the so-called "embodiment theory."

"In video games, the idea of embodiment describes a sense of connection between the player and the character, which blurs the lines between the game world and the real world," he explains.

"Pac-Man was one of the first video games to put the player in the role of a character rather than a vehicle. Pac-Man was represented as a living being, even capable of communicating pain through sounds whenever the ghosts reached him. All of this resulted in a unique connection with the player."

The Future of Pac-Man

More than 45 years after its release, Namco Bandai hopes to increase Pac-Man's popularity among younger generations with the newly released Shadow Labyrinth.

The new game takes place in a gigantic maze that blends science fiction and medieval elements. Within it, a mysterious figure called Swordman No. 8 is guided by an orb known as Puck—a sort of gothic, cyborg version of the original Pac-Man design.

The duo can even transform, for a limited time, into a Transformers -style robot warrior called GAIA, allowing players to solve otherwise impossible puzzles.

Shadow Labyrinth producer Seigo Aizawa was a childhood Pac-Man fan and believes the new game carries over some of the quirks that made the original so memorable.

"I think one of the big reasons the world fell in love with Pac-Man was that it was one of the first games to give its characters real personality," he says.

"Each ghost had a distinct behavior. Blinky, for example, was the relentless red ghost who pursued Pac-Man directly. Pinky, on the other hand, preferred to ambush him from the front. These characteristics weren't just written into the arcade machine; they were integrated into the game through artificial intelligence and unique movement patterns."

Thanks to a clever twist in the game, Pac-Man can also fight these ghost predators. By eating a "power pellet," the hunter becomes the hunted, and Pac-Man finally manages to devour the ghosts chasing him.

"There's nothing more satisfying than being chased by ghosts, getting a power-up, and turning the tables," Aizawa says.

Aizawa reveals that Bandai Namco is already considering releasing a sequel to Shadow Labyrinth.

However, Nao Udagawa, president and CEO of Bandai Namco, admits that the fact that Pac-Man is a mute and non-human character, whose gameplay is based on simple actions, makes it more challenging to keep the brand fresh, unlike other characters with strong personalities like Sega's Sonic or Nintendo's Mario.

"It's true that, as an intellectual property, Pac-Man has fewer characters and stories to tell compared to other video game characters, like Sonic," he says.

"Still, for us, it's the simplicity that makes Pac-Man a widely recognized character for Gen Z and younger generations, even if they've never played the game."

Thanks to recent partnerships with brands like Krispy Kreme and Little Lion Entertainment (an experience company that is creating an immersive, escape room- style Pac-Man attraction in cities including Manchester and Dubai), Udagawa is confident the character can last for another 45 years.

She neither confirms nor denies whether Pac-Man will get his own films—like Sonic and Mario. But the CEO admits there are plans to continue expanding Pac-Man into areas other than games.

"As an intellectual property, we will continue to prove that Pac-Man goes beyond games and has achieved this status as a cultural icon."

Despite all the plans to keep Pac-Man relevant, Etchells believes it's nostalgia that sustains its popularity. More specifically, nostalgia for an era of gaming that no longer exists in the same form: arcade culture.

"It's a reminder of childhood days spent playing with friends and rivals amidst the noise and neon lights of the arcades," he says.

Whatever the reason behind this enduring success, Pac-Man remains a pop culture icon, as well as definitive proof that we can only find success when we stop running from our ghosts and start facing them without fear.