Japan’s robust economy fueled the emergence of a new, free-wheeling business culture, and Namco-the Japanese company behind Pac-Man-was part of this new wave. Pac-Man’s story began in Japan during the 1980s, during the “Japan as Number One” era, which was defined by a manufacturing boom and strong yen.
During a time when video games’ default audience was adult men, Pac-Man successfully engaged women and children, becoming one of the first games to broaden the medium’s appeal in both the U.S. But Pac-Man was innovative in other ways, too. The classic arcade game-which turns 40 on May 22-made history by launching an unprecedented merchandise empire that would later fuel collections like Crist’s. Though most Pac-Man fans fall short of Crist’s devotion, his story reflects both the intense fandom Pac-Man has inspired, and the franchise’s longevity.
“I don’t remember if we asked him to play it up so crazy, or if he just took it upon himself to be a complete nut,” Czarnecki says, recalling the two days he spent filming with Crist, “but we had a lot of fun.” (Crist says he intentionally hammed it up.) At the time, Crist maintained a lighthearted religious parody blog he dubbed the Church of Pac-Man, revealing his unique and silly sense of humor. But producer Steve Czarnecki says it was Crist’s infectious energy that caught his attention, “like a larger-than-life Weird Al Yankovic” complete with long, curly hair. Other collectors had amassed more impressive caches of Pac-Man memorabilia than Crist’s hoard, which today includes Pac-Man plush toys, school supplies, a joke book, and even a full-sized arcade cabinet. Tim Crist’s hoard includes Pac-Man plush toys, school supplies, a joke book, a full-sized arcade cabinet, and more.
PAC MAN CARTOON 1983 TV
To date, Crist’s stint as a reality TV star has racked up more than 3.7 million views on YouTube, solidifying his reputation as “ the Pac-Man guy” for good. The scene appeared on VH1’s Totally Obsessed, a short-lived reality show that profiled superfans. A camera crew spent two days filming, culminating in an iconic scene in which Crist drove around a mostly-empty mall parking lot-his car complete with a Pac-Man-themed steering wheel wrap and fuzzy dice-yelling “PAC-MAN!” out his open window at passers-by. In 2004, Crist’s fandom caught the attention of VH1. “ You hear about the yellow guy?” the lyrics start. He even wrote a song about Pac-Man with his comedy synth-punk band, Worm Quartet.
PAC MAN CARTOON 1983 SOFTWARE
Later, as an adult,, he collected Pac-Man memorabilia and used his training as a software programmer to build a game called Pac-Kombat (a two-player version of Mortal Kombat, with Pac-Man characters). But it stuck with me somehow.”Īs a kid, Crist doodled his own Pac-Men in art class-though they were green, to match the Pizza Hut cabinet’s broken screen-and poured tens of thousands of quarters into arcades. “I had no idea what I was doing with the ghosts. “I was terrible at the game,” he recalls. Crist slipped a quarter into the machine, and played Pac-Man for the very first time. It was 1981, and a new video game was getting a lot of buzz. When Tim Crist was five years old, he walked into a Pizza Hut in Potsdam, New York, and his life changed forever.
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