#19: The Original Pac-Man
Pac-Man debuted in 1980 and changed the world of gaming forever. The instantly-recognizable game was invented by designer Toru Iwatani, who was inspired to create the character after grabbing a slice of pizza. The shape of the incomplete circle inspired Pac-Man’s iconic shape. It’s wild to think about, but the original draft of the famous maze was originally hand-drawn by Iwatani himself.
He sketched out the iconic maze on a piece of graph paper and plotted out pathways, as well as the brightly colored ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. It’s pretty wild to think that Iwatani’s original concept spawned a multi-million dollar empire and an instantly-recognizable video game mascot. Iwatani probably had no idea that his simple idea would transform an entire culture.