Today marks the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the biggest phenomenon to hit video gaming: Pac-Man. Up to that point, Asteroids and Space Invaders were the standard. My first experience with video games was in the mid seventies, when the pinball machine was replaced by the very rudimentary game of Tank in the Keene State College pub. I must have had a lot more free time back then, because I remember spending hours playing Pac-Man, especially after getting my own home Atari game. My apartment roommate Pat took the intensity to a new level, racking up a million points one time. I can't say my level of focus would ever have allowed that. As much as Pac-Man (and Ms Pac-Man) were eighties icons, I preferred Centipede and Frogger. I guess that gives me what is hopefully the only thing in common with George Costanza on Seinfeld. I must have stopped being hooked on Pac-Man and all the others when I decided it was time to grow up. That reasoning may not have made much sense, since I still don't know what I want to do for a living when I grow up!
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