Tim Lapetino
SHOWING OFF COOL RETRO-THEMED STUFF THAT’S GOING ON
The author of a new book celebrating Pac-Man tells Paul Drury about 40 years of eating dots
» If you thought you knew everything about the Pac-Man franchise, think again...
Writer, designer and ‘geek historian’ Tim Lapetino is co-author of Pac- Man: Birth Of An Icon, which delves deep into the game’s creation and its cultural impact across four decades. He spent all of 2020 playing over a hundred versions of the game and exploring the crazy world of the series’ memorabilia. You can share his journey on Twitter @365ofpac. Tim is also the author of the best-selling book, Art Of Atari.
Pac-Man turned 40 last year. Why is he still such an icon?
I think the foundation of Pac-Man’s lasting power is the game itself. The gameplay, the design and the overall challenge are still something that players find fun and engaging four decades on. The design choices by Toru Iwatani’s team were particular and specifically minimal and that’s meant the game has aged well visually, too.
You actually managed to speak to the ‘father of Pac-Man’, Toru Iwatani, for the book.
Yeah, it was fun to dig in with him about the cultural context, of how he felt about the times, his playful spirit and what was happening around him in Japan in the Seventies. I think his desire to make a game that was focused on less violent play, to open up the experience to more than just “sweaty guys”, as he called them, was key. As a sweaty guy myself, I can relate… [Me too – Ed]