Play real-life Pac-Man

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 16th October 2007
Comments (12) Stumble
If you think you can do better in a lifesize game of Pac-Man, all you have to do is turn up to the PID Festival.

If you think you can do better in a lifesize game of Pac-Man, all you have to do is turn up to the PID Festival.

If you're in Birmingham this week then you'll have the chance to get involved in a rather interesting take on an old game. The Plus International Design Festival, which is running from the 17th to the 21st of October, is letting groups of people loose into a specially built maze system for life-size games of Pac-Man.

The game will see one person taking the role of the iconic, ball-shaped hero as he is guided around by Player One. Player One has a birds eye view of the maze and can communicate via radio with Pac-Man, who can only respond by saying "wacacacaca" over and over.

Two other players will take the roles of Ghosts and are controlled by Player Two, who also has a birds-eye view and a radio. The idea is then for Player Two to corner and grab (not devour) Pac-Man using the two Ghosts under his control. Player One meanwhile has to survive for as long as possible and can find Power Pills to turn the tables on the Ghosts.

The event will be running for the whole festival, with games taking place as soon as enough players are signed up and with a typical length of ten minutes, though there's deliberately no set time limit. All you have to do is turn up with some friends and allow yourself to be let loose in the specially built maze.

Meta-games like this are getting fairly common now, with blogs like WeMakeMoneyNotArt featuring a nice selection of the more artistic and inventive games.

Still, if you're looking for some friends to go get your game on with then why not pop into the forums and put a group together?
Quote Woodstock 16th October 2007, 10:57
thats awesome, unfortunately im nowhere near birmingham
Quote Delphium 16th October 2007, 11:00
Leave the house?!!
Well I guess it is for a worthy cause :D
Like the idea
Quote Henk 16th October 2007, 11:16
Oh man, gotta check youtube later on for videos of this. I sure hope someone remembers to bring a camera :D
Quote mikeuk2004 16th October 2007, 11:38
I have seen this on TV from Japan. Im sure there are videos on youtube of the human pacman game
Quote jezmck 16th October 2007, 12:39
why is it not at the weekend? does nobody have jobs?!*
*- I'm aware of the peculiar grammar there.
Quote Tyinsar 16th October 2007, 20:22
heh heh, I like the pic of the Pac-Man skull - are there "ghosts" (keeping trophies) in your office?
Quote MilkMan5 17th October 2007, 10:29
Quote:
Originally Posted by jezmck
why is it not at the weekend? does nobody have jobs?!*
*- I'm aware of the peculiar grammar there.

"...The Plus International Design Festival, which is running from the the 17th to the 21st of October..."
According to my calendar, its from Wednesday to Sunday.
I believe that Saturday and Sunday falls on a weekend.

:D
Quote jezmck 18th October 2007, 07:39
Quote TomH 18th October 2007, 18:19
Haha! That's AMAZING!

What's even MORE amazing is the fact that it's being hosted on the exact same street I work on! :D :D

The boss used to do games programming.. Wonder if I can organise a friday-arvo excursion?

To think I kept walking past thinking, 'Just another nancy arty/design expo..'
Quote CardJoe 19th October 2007, 09:02
If you pop along, be sure to post pictures!
Quote Nexxo 19th October 2007, 18:51
Well, I popped along, and luckily I had my trusty mobile phone cameara with me (OK, it's a Razr with crappy 320x240 resolution, but it does the job). I also had a chat with the guy who runs this little exhibit: Pete O'Donnell, an Acquisitions and Developer Relations Manager for Codemasters®. He did this as a sort of personal hobby project --given that Pacman belongs to Namco, not Codemasters. :D

The arena: actually quite small, really...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/Nexxo00/Real%20Life%20PacMan/19-10-07_1352.jpg

Here's Pete dealing out the hats that will identify the willing victims volunteers as Pacman or Ghost...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/Nexxo00/Real%20Life%20PacMan/19-10-07_1353.jpg

And here are two willing volunteers... Bless.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/Nexxo00/Real%20Life%20PacMan/19-10-07_1354.jpg

When the volunteers enter the maze, Pete starts a tapedeck with the famous Pacman theme tune in authentic MIDI. Someone can shout Pacman directions over a microphone and amplifier...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/Nexxo00/Real%20Life%20PacMan/19-10-07_1356.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/Nexxo00/Real%20Life%20PacMan/19-10-07_1355.jpg

Well, that's it! Pete took pictures and video recordings of various intrepid gamers throughout the exhibition, which he will post after it finishes on Sunday, on http://www.pacman-plus.com
Quote TomH 22nd October 2007, 19:05
Hah! Awesome! I wandered up on the thursday but forgot I didn't have any change on me :(

Nevermind.
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