That sound you hear in your head is an inspired bit of silliness I stumbled upon at Target— The Ultimate Pac-Man board game!
Yes, I said *board* game.
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| Anybody have a quarter? |
Saturday Night at the Local Arcade, circa 1980s (sorta…)
This game is pretty much what it says on the lid. 2-4 players each control a different colored open-mouth “Pac-Man” ball, which they move around the classic Pac-Man maze, gobbling up “Pac-dots” (little yellow plastic cubes), “Power Pellets” (large plastic yellow cubes) and fruit (tokens), while avoiding four multi-colored “Ghosts.” And, yes the Pac-Men can consume a Power Pellet to turn the Ghosts blue, to munch for extra points. Pretty much everything is included, including the arcade token (used as a “turn” marker). Alas, no joystick (though it’s printed on each player’s control panel).
The game comes with a bunch of nicely thematic goodies. The ping-pong ball sized Pac-Men are in four colors, have a nice heft, and look great. The Ghosts are upside-down plastic “cups,” hollow underneath so they will cover the pac-dots as they move around the maze. Four “Turn To Blue” larger cups also fit over the Ghosts for when a “Power Pellet” is consumed, allowing the Pac-Men to potentially chase and eat the Ghosts. Plus there are points tokens for eaten ghosts, “1UP” life tokens (three) for each Pac-Man, and some Power Up cards that temporarily change the way either Ghosts or a Pac-Man behaves on a player’s turn. Last, the game comes with 2 yellow Pac-Man movement dice, 1 white random events die, and 2 black Ghost movement dice. The board is also two-sided to allow for 3 or 4 players.
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| So much stuff! It’s an ‘80s cornucopia! |
Press the Start Button, and…
Play is straightforward. On a turn, a player may choose to spend collected Pac-dots on a Power Up card (one of three exposed), which immediately takes effect. Typical powers including moving diagonally (either the Pac-Man or the Ghosts), teleporting, eating Ghosts without turning them blue, and other surprise abilities not seen in the classic arcade game (well, at any level *I* ever managed to get to).
Whether he opts to use a Power Up card or not, the player then rolls the Pac-Man movement dice (numbered 1-4, but with 2 and 3 having two faces each). He can move the Pac-Man through the maze up the total amount rolled— even reversing movement— but cannot land on the same square it started from. If a square contains a Pac-Dot, Power Pellet, or Fruit token, the player claims these items and puts them on his control panel. If a square contains a Ghost (not turned blue), the Pac-Man is eaten. If the square contains a Turned Blue Ghost, the Pac-Man eats it, and takes a Turned To Blue token. If the move would land on an opposing Pac-Man, the player simply skips over that square without counting it.
After moving the Pac-Man, the acting player rolls the Ghost dice— the white and black dice. The white die reveals an effect— sometimes adding a Fruit token to the maze, sometimes replenishing the Pac-dots in the maze, sometimes turning Turned To Blue Ghosts back to normal (removing the covers), and sometimes moving a Ghost 2 extra spaces. The black dice then determines which of the Ghosts to move (sometimes all), and how far (4 to 7, with 5 and 6 having two faces each). If a Ghost lands on a Pac-Man, just as in the arcade game, the Pac-Man is eaten and removed from the maze. The player with the eaten Pac-Man must give a 1UP token to the player with the Arcade Token.
Once these actions are taken and the results applied, the Arcade Token is passed to the next player.
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| Sometimes you eat the ghost, sometimes the ghost eats you. |
You’ve Got Three Lives. You’ll Waste ‘Em.
Whenever any player loses all three of his “1UP” tokens, the game ends. Points are scored for number of dots and pellets consumed, number of Ghosts consumed, the various “fruit” tokens collected, and number of 1UP tokens claimed from other players. As one expects, the highest score wins. (Alas, there’s nothing in the box to record High Scores on, but you can wing it.)
What’s the Score?
The game is not at all complex, but there’s a certain level of strategic and tactical thinking that goes on. Yes, movement of Pac-Man and Ghosts are according to the dice, but players may maneuver their Pac-Man pieces to avoid the latter, and of course try to figure out which path to the goodies would be best. You can also certainly push your luck and wind up near a Ghost which you hope you can move away, or hope nobody else rolls the color of to move it. And of course purchasing the Power Up cards can alter the situation on any player’s turn, to their favor.
Play is quick and the Ghost movement is brutal, so there’s a certain “Take That!” element in play— which I see as a positive for a game like this. It also makes things resolve very quickly. I can’t see a single round of this lasting more than 30 minutes, and most likely much less. Re-playability is high because the game is so short, and the dice and cards make each play experience potentially different.
And a Few Minor Details
The age lists 8+, which I think is largely valid. The Power Up cards might need a little explanation for some children (or could be left out for less literate kiddoes). One card in particular is awkwardly worded— it allows a Pac-Man going through the classic “wrap around” tunnel to emerge from any tunnel on the board— but the card says “exit” where “enter” is meant. Easy for an older gamer to resolve, but potentially confusing for younger or more “by the book” players.
Minor drawback— the round Pac-Man pawns have a flat-side on the bottom, but it’s easy to accidentally drop one off kilter— at which point the “ball” shape takes over and it starts rolling all over the board!
Hmmm… Just Add Swords?
And one final notice— there’s something I don’t think anyone considered when Pac-Man first appeared on the arcade scene, and it only occurred to me when playing this board game— replace the Pac-Man with a Warrior, and the dots with gold, the Fruits with gems, and the Power Pellets with magic weapon locations— and you have a dungeon crawl! Collect treasure, avoid the monsters, find some magic to defeat them, go to the next level down (up)… It’s all there, at least on a basic level.
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| The wizard that built this dungeon was definitely a few components shy of a full spell book. |
And the Final Score Is…
So, I kinda like this game. I will be introducing it to my grand-nieces and grand-nephews. And yes, I will entertain/annoy them by imitating the classic game sounds… wakkawakkawakka…
Li’l Godzilla: 5 out of 5 Atomic Breath Blasts for a silly nostalgia game, executed perfectly. It is what it is, but what it is, is very well done.
