Baby Pac-Man (game)

Baby Pac-Man is an arcade game in the Pac-Man series, developed by Dave Nutting Associates and published by Bally Midway in 1982. Baby Pac-Man is presented as a video game and pinball hybrid, combining elements of Pac-Man and pinball gameplay.
== Gameplay ==
Baby Pac-Man is a game machine which consists of a video game/pinball hybrid, gameplay switches between the video screen and the pinball table of the machine. The game can be played by one player, or by two players alternating turns.
=== Video Maze ===
Every game starts in the video maze mode, which is displayed on the cabinet screen and controlled using the Joystick.
Similar to its predecessors, the game follows Baby Pac-Man as he eats all the Dots in the maze, while avoiding the four ghosts that wander the maze. As Baby Pac-Man eats Dots, bonus fruits will appear in the maze, which will give Baby Pac-Man bonus points when eaten. The fruits and their point value will change if the F-R-U-I-T-S light indicators on the pinball table are lit up in pinball mode. The round is completed when all Dots are eaten in the maze (any leftover Energizers will carry over to the next maze). If a ghost catches Baby Pac-Man in the maze, one life is lost. The game ends when all of Baby Pac-Man's lives are lost.
Unlike previous games, the unnamed ghosts (colored Red, Pink, Blue and Green respectively) in this game are more aggressive and target Baby Pac-Man. Though they act identical, the ghosts are more relentless as they are able to make 180° turns and always target Baby directly; though the speeds of each ghost color differ. When compared to Baby Pac-Man's speed, the Red ghost moves faster, the Blue and Green ghosts move identical to Baby's speed and the Pink one moves slower. 
Unlike previous games, the maze begins with no Energizers, making it difficult to avoid ghosts. Energizers can be earned by lighting up the P-A-C-M-A-N light indicators in the pinball mode. If one is earned, Baby Pac-Man can eat them to temporarily be able to slow down and eat blue ghosts. Up to four Energizers can appear in a maze. Baby Pac-Man can use the side tunnels located at the side of every maze to warp to the other side of the maze. If Baby Pac-Man has a maze speed upgrade earned from the T-U-N-N-E-L lights, Baby Pac-Man will speed up inside the tunnels.
There are three different mazes in the game, which alternate every round. After the third round, the game will loop back to the first maze, and mazes afterwards will continue with altering colors. Maze walls will become invisible beginning with the seventh round, making it difficult for Baby Pac-Man to progress. Completing a maze will give the player a 10,000 point bonus, which increases by 10,000 points for each maze completed.
=== Pinball ===
In the mazes, there are two chutes located at the bottom of the screen in each maze; where ghosts cannot enter. If Baby Pac-Man enters the bottom of these chutes, the game will transition to pinball mode, which is played using the flippers located on the sides of the cabinet.
The pinball mode, like regular pinball cabinets, involves hitting the ball with the flippers in order to hit and light up the panels and bumpers on the pinball table to score points. If the ball falls down the chute, the game will return to the maze mode on the video display and the pinball chutes will be sealed in the maze, preventing Baby Pac-Man from accessing the maze until a life is lost or the maze is completed. Like many other pinball cabinets, Baby Pac-Man features an anti-tilt system that will cause the flippers to lock if it detects excess cabinet tilting, causing the pinball mode to end. If the cabinet detects slamming, an immediate Game Over will be issued, regardless of the player's remaining extra lives.
Within the pinball mode, it is possible to earn various bonuses for the mazes by highlighting portions of the playfield or hitting Panels:
* P-A-C-M-A-N Drop Targets- These lights, present on the top of the table, are lit up by hitting the drop targets where the pinball is located. If a set of three lights are lit up in complete, one of four Energizers will appear in the maze depending on the light set completed. Unlike the other light sets, there are four P-A-C-M-A-N light sets in total. The Energizer's location will depend on the light set that is complete.
** The marked Energizers earned will appear in the locations of their marked maze locations: 1 will appear on the top left corner, 2 will appear on the bottom left corner, 3 will appear on the bottom right corner and 4 will appear on the top right corner.
* F-R-U-I-T-S Tunnel - These lights are lit up by passing through the top left tunnel. If these lights are lit up in complete, the Fruit spawning in the center will change to the following fruit (starting at Cherry, ending at Banana), which allows more bonus points. Entering this tunnel will also activate one of the Extra Baby arrow lights.
* T-U-N-N-E-L Tunnel - These lights are lit up by passing through the top right tunnel. If these lights are lit up in complete, Baby Pac-Man's speed will increase significantly when Baby Pac-Man enters a Warp Tunnel. The speed effect can be increased up to eight times. Entering this tunnel will also activate one of the Extra Baby arrow lights.
* Extra Baby: The arrow lights between the Energizer lights will light up upon activating a light. Each arrow will stay lit up for the amount of time marked on the arrow, with the following arrows staying lit up for shorter time periods. The last light will flash, and will only fully complete if the light is lit up at the same time as the light flashes on. If all the lights are lit up, an extra life is awarded. The blue target will appear after one of the P-A-C-M-A-N drop targets are activated.
** The Extra Baby arrows will be triggered on the following occasions:
*** The blue target is hit, which appears between the P-A-C-M-A-N Energizer Drop Targets.
*** The pinball enters the F-R-U-I-T-S and T-U-N-N-E-L tunnels.
* Saucers: Located beneath the F-R-U-I-T-S and T-U-N-N-E-L tunnels. If the pinball enters one of the two saucers when certain Energizers are activated is available, the pinball will lock in place and the game returns to the video display in Maze mode. Depending on the side of the saucer where the pinball, the chute that the pinball entered will seal that pinball chute in the maze, and Baby Pac-Man will emerge from it. However, the other pinball chute will remain open, where Baby Pac-Man can take the "Pacsculator" back to the pinball table. The left saucer will bring Baby Pac-Man back to the maze if either Energizer 1 or 2 is active, while the right saucer will bring Baby Pac-Man back if either Energizer 3 or 4 is active.
=== Scoring System ===
==== Maze Mode ====
*Pac-Dot - 100 points.
*Power Pellet - 500 points.
*Vulnerable Ghosts:
**#1 in succession - 2,000 points.
**#2 in succession - 4,000 points.
**#3 in succession - 8,000 points.
**#4 in succession - 16,000 points.
*Fruit:
**🍒 Cherry: 1,000 points.
**🍓 Strawberry: 3,000 points
**🍑 Peach: 5,000 points
**🍎 Apple: 7,000 points
**🍐 Pear: 10,000 points
**🍊 Orange: 20,000 points
**🍉 Melon: 30,000 points
**🍌 Banana: 50,000 points
*Maze completed: 10,000 points, added by 10,000 points for each maze completed.
==== Pinball mode ====
* FRUITS and TUNNEL pathways: 100 points
* Bumper lanes: 500 points
* Target panels: 500 points
** Target panel with pinball behind: 1,000 points
* Saucer (when flashing): 500 points
* Extra Baby lights:
** 1st light lit: 500 points
** 2nd light lit: 2,000 points
** 3rd light lit: 4,000 points
** 4th light lit: 6,000 points
** 5th light lit: 8,000 points
** 6th light lit: 10,000 points and extra life
==Release==
Baby Pac-Man was originally released for arcades in 1982.
Baby Pac-Man has not seen any form of official re-release following the release of the original arcade cabinet. There are, however. notable fan creations that replicate the gameplay of Baby Pac-Man:
* Microsoft Windows emulators PinMAME and Visual Pinball X can be used to recreate the game using the original ROM of the game.
* A homebrew version for Atari 7800 was developed in 2019, which solely works on a video screen.
==Trivia==
*Toru Iwatani had praised the Baby Pac-Man game for being "nice and cute", but found the pinball playfield too small for his playing comfort.https://www.ign.com/articles/interview-pac-man-creator-toru-iwatani-on-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-first-video-game-blockbuster
*Baby Pac-Man, along with Professor Pac-Man are the only two Bally Midway-published Pac-Man video games to have never seen any official ports or re-releases, most likely due to difficulties replicating the original video game/pinball hybrid concept and rights issues to the title.
*Early miniature-wooden cabinets of Baby Pac-Man depict the Pac-Man characters' pinball artwork with different designs, similar to the artwork of Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man and other Bally Midway merchandising products at the time. Only five of these cabinets were produced.http://www.rotheblog.com/2013/02/arcade-history/rare-baby-pacman-chicago-illinois/
**The early artwork depicted Baby Pac-Man, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man with white eyes, blue irises, large cheeks as well as elbow and leg bumps. Baby Pac-Man in the skateboard artwork does not have a headband and has a single piece of white hair. In the final, all these features were removed and were redesigned with pie-shaped eyes.
*Though Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man do not appear in-game, they are depicted appearing in the pinball portion of the maze, appearing within the border artwork as cameos. 
*Baby Pac-Man is one of the few Pac-Man games to not give any of the ghosts names, in-game or in promotional material. 
*Baby Pac-Man is one of the only two known video game/pinball hybrid arcade games manufactured by Bally Midway, the other known game being Granny and the Gators. 
== Gallery ==
=== Machine and Box Art ===
Machinebaby.jpg|Original arcade machine.
Babymarquee.jpg|Original marquee.
Playfield.jpg|Close-up of the pinball playfield.
=== Character Artwork ===
Imagesbabypac.jpg|Baby Pac-Man
Baby-0.png|Baby Pac-Man
Babypac-skate.png|Baby Pac-Man
Babypac-stork.png|Baby Pac-Man and Stork
Inkybaby.jpg|Inky
==References==
==External Links==
* Playable emulated Atari 7800 ROM of the game (archive.org, unofficial)
Category:Games
Category:Pac-Man Games
Category:Bally/Midway Games
Category:Arcade Games
Category:Pinball Games