Long before Sony Playstation and Lara Croft, a yellow pizza with a slice missing ruled the video-game arcades. Pac-Man appeared in Japan in 1980, produced by Namco. Legend has it that its creator, Toru Iwatani (1955–), was inspired by a night out at a local pizza (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) restaurant. He invented a game that would dominate the video game (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 5) market for several years. To today's gamers,Pac-Man looks simple and unexciting, but for serious players it remains the game to beat. A perfect Pac-Man score was not achieved until 1999.

Pac-Man is the simplest of games. The hero of the game is trapped in a maze littered with dots and occasional pieces of fruit. His task is to "eat" all the dots and fruit without being destroyed by the ghosts "Clyde," "Blinky," "Inky," and "Pinky...