Pac-Man (Tomy board game)

The Pac-Man Board Game, also known as just Pac-Man Game (パックマンゲーム Pakkuman Geimu), is a board game by Tomy released in 1976, predating the video game. Up to four players use multicolored "hands" to fling chips into Pac-Man's mouth, who rotates while opening and closing his mouth. It was later released in the US as Mr. Mouth.
The board game follows the release of the Pac-Man Bank from 1976, and would be followed by a water game shortly thereafter. Technically speaking, the Pac-Man board game is the first Pac-Man-related game ever released.
== Variants ==
* Pac-Man / Mr. Mouth - The original 1976 version.
* The Original Pac-Man Game (元祖パックマンゲーム) - Also romanized as "PUCKMANGAME" on the box. A reissued version released as a tie-in with the video game. The chips are replaced with Ghost Monster game pieces, and Pac-Man's face was changed.
* Egg Catcher Game (たまごきゃっちゃゲーム) - A Kirby-themed version of the game released around 1993. It is loosely themed after a minigame of the same name from Kirby's Adventure; the Pac-Man base is fully redesigned into Kirby, and the chips are replaced with egg pieces.
* TomyMate Pac-Man Jr. (トミーメイト パックマンJr.) - Released at an unknown date. Miniature version of the original 1976 model; it is less than half the size of the standard model. Only supports three players rather than four.
* Mr. Mouth (frog) - Released at an unknown date (likely mid-90s). Replaces Pac-Man with a googly-eyed frog. This model is still sold to this day.
== Trivia ==
* During the Midway Manufacturing v. Bandai-America case (surrounding the bootleg Packri Monster handheld game), the defense (Bandai) used the existence of this game in an unsuccessful attempt to show that Midway/Namco did not come up with the original idea for Pac-Man.http://nj.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19820722_0000059.DNJ.htm/qx
== Gallery ==
Tomy-merch-JP-1970s-pacman-game-1.jpg|Japanese Pac-Man Game model (pre-video game), loose.
Tomy-merch-JP-1980s-the-original-pacman-game-0.jpg|Japanese The Original Pac-Man Game model (post-video game), boxed.
Tomy-merch-US-1970s-mr-mouth-0.jpg|U.S. Mr. Mouth (1970s model), boxed.
Tomy-merch-JP-19xx-tomymate-pacman-jr-0.jpg|Japanese TomyMate Pac-Man Jr., boxed.
Tomy-merch-JP-1990s-egg-catcher-game-0.jpg|Japanese Egg Catcher Game (based on Kirby), boxed.
Tomy-merch-JP-1990s-egg-catcher-game-1.jpg|Japanese Egg Catcher Game (based on Kirby), loose.
==References==
==External links==
*Mr. Mouth toy commercial
*Midway Manufacturing v. Bandai-America case
*Google Patents: US4109914 A
Category:Games
Category:Board and table games
Category:Merchandise