Chris Kohler
Culture

<cite>The Pac-Gentleman</cite> Recalls A Simpler Time

Forget about Pac-Man text adventures — here’s the real oldest version of the dot-chomping adventure. By real I of course mean fake, but don’t tell me ‘The Pac-Gentleman’ isn’t awesome. When this game was first released in 1880 it was so hugely popular in taverns and inns that the bank of England was forced to […]

PacgentlemanForget about Pac-Man text adventures -- here's the real oldest version of the dot-chomping adventure. By real I of course mean fake, but don't tell me 'The Pac-Gentleman' isn't awesome.

When this game was first released in 1880 it was so hugely popular in taverns and inns that the bank of England was forced to mint more threepenny bits to keep up with demand. The game was created by Messrs. Nam & Nam and Co. as a novelty pastime for the masses. Outdoing the previous top public house game of Shove Ha'penny.

Even better, inspired by this custom-created art toy,
some ROM hackers decided to actually go in and screw with the Ms. Pac-Man arcade code, and changed it into a Pac-Gentleman game playable through MAME. Oh, it's all just too much.

Secret History Of Video Games: The Pac-Gentleman [Kidrobot]