Tomy

Tomy Co., Ltd (株式会社トミー) is a Japanese company founded in 1924, specializing in the toy and entertainment industry. The company would be succeeded by Takara Tomy in 2006.
In a technical sense, Pac-Man (as a character) was created by the Tomy company in the 1970s; with Tomy's Pac-Man toys considerably predating the much more well-known Pac-Man arcade game by Namco. Following the arcade game's release, Tomy would release Pac-Man products directly tied to the video game franchise.
== History ==
=== Creation of Pac-Man ===
In 1974, Tomy released the Pac-Man Bank; this is the oldest known instance of the Pac-Man character and name. To operate the Pac-Man Bank, the user would fling coins into Pac-Man's mouth. The banks were successful on the market, resulting in several unique variations being released throughout the '70s. Tomy would later file a trademark registry for Pac-Man, which lasted into the 1980s.
The success of the Pac-Man banks resulted in other Pac-Man toys being released. A Pac-Man board game was released in 1976, with a water game being released shortly thereafter; these games were released in America as Mr. Mouth and Waterful Mouthful, respectively. Notably, the board game and water game defined Pac-Man's main coloring as yellow; while the original Pac-Man banks were available in a multitude of colors.
=== Relation with Namco ===
In May of 1980, Namco released the Pac-Man arcade game in Japan. While the gameplay premise of Namco's Pac-Man was largely unique, the character was strikingly similar to Tomy's toy line of the same name; including both products being themed around eating. Despite this, Tomy had effectively no involvement with the production of the arcade game. As to if Namco attempted to "copy" Tomy's toy line, or if it was only a strange coincidence, remains largely unclear.
According to the Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon book, prior to Pac-Man's arcade debut, Namco did contact Tomy about their rights in the Pac-Man name. Tomy reportedly agreed to a one-time usage license, allowing Namco to use the Pac-Man trademark for the arcade game. However, it is evident that much more occurred between Tomy and Namco regarding Pac-Man; though seemingly no direct legal action was taken by either party.
It is believed that Tomy received the exclusive toy rights for the arcade adaption of Pac-Man in Japan; likely as some form of negotiation for Namco to own Pac-Man as a separate property. Judging from all known 1980s Japanese Pac-Man merchandise - barring some odd exceptions - Tomy was the only company to release Pac-Man merchandise in Japan up until the end of 1983; with some aspects of the presumed-agreement (mainly surrounding toys) continuing into at least 1991. A verified similar agreement was made in North America (with the Pac-Man arcade game's U.S. distributor, Bally Midway), but it was non-exclusive and only lasted until December 1st, 1983."Tomy Corporation also has a license to produce [Pac-Man toys]. This license expires on December 1, 1983 and was part of a quit claim assignment by Tomy to Midway of any rights it might have claimed in the mark Pac-Man as well as in Tomy's mechanical game of the same name." (https://casetext.com/case/midway-mfg-co-v-bandai-america-inc)
Following these settlements, Tomy released Pac-Man toys directly modeled after the arcade game, often using both Namco and Midway's standardized character designs for Pac-Man. This included the Tomy LSI Game Pac-Man system, a handheld adaption of the video game, and the Pac-Man Magnetic Maze board game. Additionally, Tomy's older Pac-Man toys were re-released as tie-ins to the video game - adding aspects such as Ghosts and mazes.
Despite this, Tomy still retained rights in the Pac-Man trademark in Japan. As their initial agreement with Namco was a one-time use case, Namco could not use the Pac-Man name without Tomy's permission. This seemingly led to several early Japanese Pac-Man releases being renamed; such as two console ports of Super Pac-Man being renamed to "Power Pac" and "Mr. Packn", and the Coleco Tabletop version of Pac-Man being released as "Super Puck Monster". In North America, Tomy and Bally Midway both filed for the trademark; with two registries, both filed on the same day, labeled as being for "Toy Play Banks".U.S. registry by Tomy: https://trademarks.justia.com/733/13/n-a-73313743.html; U.S. registry by Bally Midway: https://trademarks.justia.com/733/13/pac-man-73313744.html
=== Post-1983 ===
At some point, Namco was seemingly granted the full Pac-Man trademark rights by Tomy. This was most likely in 1984, as many home console and computer ports of Pac-Man were released under Namco's license at this time. Additionally, a number of Pac-Man merchandise pieces were released in 1984 by various companies, including Namco directly. It is unclear if Tomy (of Japan)'s video game-centric Pac-Man rights had flat-out expired, or if they had only loosened slightly.
The Japanese Pac-Man merchandise from other companies - released from approximately 1984 to 1997 - still hold a few curiosities. The majority of the items are still not directly "toys"; with the most common products being apparel, badges, paper goods, and school supplies. Additionally, a number of items are specifically based on Ms. Pac-Man or Pac-Land; it is unknown if this is a result of a legal restriction. However, all of these factors may be purely coincidental.
Tomy is not known to have released any Pac-Man products directly from 1984 up until the end of the 80s. The company would release two additional Pac-Man products in 1991: GameKids: Pac-Man and GameKids: Square Maze. Both products use artwork mimicking Namco's Pac-Man design, but do not seem to be directly Namco-affiliated.
In the later 1990s, Namco began producing Japanese Pac-Man merchandise on a much wider scale. Upon the launch of Namco's Entertainment Goods Store in 1998, Tomy produced Pac-Man cell phone accessories for the retail chain. The cell phone products likely either postdate or mark the end of Tomy's presumed-exclusive Pac-Man contract. From this point forward, Pac-Man merchandise produced by Tomy and affiliates would either be licensed directly from Namco (i.e. a nonexclusive agreement) or based on Tomy's original 1970s products (e.g. a relaunch of the Pac-Man Banks in 2005).
== Pac-Man Products ==
==== 1970s ====
* Pac-Man Bank - The very first Pac-Man item ever released. A small bank where coins are launched into Pac-Man's mouth. Many variations exist, including a Biyadaru Bank model that doubles as a board game. A version was also produced for the U.S. market, which postdates the video game in release.
* Pac-Man Board Game - A board game where players fling chips into Pac-Man's mouth. Released in the U.S. as Mr. Mouth. A later Japanese version titled The Original Pac-Man Game was released as a tie-in to the video game.
* Pac-Man Water Game - A basic water game. Released in the U.S. as Waterful Mouthful, as well as various other names in other countries. A later U.S. version titled Wonderful Waterful Pac Man was released as a tie-in to the video game.
==== 1980s ====
* Tomy LSI Game Puckman - Port of the original Pac-Man arcade game to LCD handheld technology. Released in the U.S. as just Pac Man (under "Tomytronic" branding), as well as various other names in other countries.
* Tomy Watchman: Monster Hero - A digital watch featuring a game based on Pac-Man. Released in North America with genuine Pac-Man branding by Nelsonic.
* Programming Digipro Powerman - A handheld LCD maze game. It originally planned to be released as "Programable Digipro Puck Man" [sic]; however, the console ultimately used generic branding.
* Pac-Man Magnetic Maze - A labyrinth game controlled via a joystick, where a magnetic Pac-Man must collect all three fruits while avoiding touching ghosts. Released in Europe as Family Puckman, with an additional U.K. variant published by Hales; seemingly not published in Japan.
* Technoboy: Puck Man - Wind-up game. Rebranded version of the previously released Ninja Yashiki game.http://www9.big.or.jp/~hiroshi1/technoboy.html
* Pac Man Pocket Game - Mechanical game where the player must catch marbles into Pac-Man's mouth. Released as part of the "Tomy PocketMate" series in Japan under "Puck Man" branding; a larger blue version (under the Pac-Man name) was also produced.
* Tomy PocketMate: Kuru Kuru Pakkun - Mechanical game; goal is unknown.
* Tomy Game Core: Puckman - Mechanical game with a purple Pac-Man. Goal is unknown. Released in the U.S. as Tomy Skill Squares: Mini Mouth.
* Pac-Man wind-up toys - Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Blinky and Inky models were produced. Variants were released in the U.K. by Hales; seemingly not released in Japan.
* Kidievision - A game "console" with two giant buttons. It is effectively a water game without any water. individual games were sold separately, one of which was Pac-Man.
==== 1990s ====
* GameKids: Pac-Man - A faux-handheld game resembling a Game Boy, once again based on wind-up technology. The Pac-Man version was also released in the U.S. as Game Buddy: SpookAttack. Several non-Pac-Man variants of the console were also released, including versions based on Kirby's Adventure and Super Mario Land 2.
* GameKids: Square Maze - A wind-up labyrinth game. Features a blue Pac-Man on the box, but the actual toy is unbranded.
* Pac-Man cell phone products - Products include antenna caps, phone stickers, phone straps, protection stickers, and reception lights; each product had Pac-Man and Inky variants. These items were released in 1998, likely either postdating or marking the end of Tomy's presumed-exclusive Pac-Man contract.
==== Decade unknown ====
* TomyMate Pac-Man Jr. - Miniature version of Tomy's Pac-Man board game.
== Trivia ==
*Tomy's English Pac-Man logo, used on several American products, is loosely modeled after the traditional Namco Pac-Man logo; however, whereas the "C" in Namco's logo represents Pac-Man, the "C" in Tomy's logo is the top half of a Pac-Man Bank facing the side.
*For unknown reasons, Tomy's U.S. Pac-Man products remove the hyphen in "Pac-Man" (in both the logo and text on the packaging); transcribing it as either "Pac Man" or "PacMan". Despite this, any legal notation credited to Midway writes the name as Pac-Man.
*Several unknown variants of Tomy's Pac-Man wind-up toys are known to exist: including a smaller "set" of ghosts in a wide variety of colors, and two red and blue-colored Pac-Men with strange stickers applied over their faces."Pac-Man Fever" Facebook posts: post 1, post 2. Note that some Ghost colors may have been customized by the collector. It is unknown what territories these were released in, or if they had any actual involvement from Tomy.
== Gallery ==
Tomy-merch-JP-1970s-pacman-bank-1.jpg|Pac-Man Banks
Tomy-merch-JP-1970s-pacman-game-1.jpg|Pac-Man Board Game
Tomy-merch-US-1970s-waterful-mouthful-1.jpg|Pac-Man Water Game
Tomy-merch-JP-1980s-lsi-game-puckman-1.jpg|Tomy LSI Game Puckman
Tomy-merch-US-1980s-pacman-magnetic-maze-1.png|Pac-Man Magnetic Maze
Tomy-merch-US-1980s-pacman-pocketgame-1.png|Pac Man Pocket Game
Tomy-merch-US-1980s-pacman-wind-up-toys-1.jpg|Pac-Man wind-up toys
Tomy-merch-US-1980s-kidievision-0.jpg|Kidievision (w/ Pac-Man inserted)
Tomy-merch-JP-1990s-gamekids-pacman-0.jpg|GameKids: Pac-Man
== References ==
Category:Merchandise
Category:Video Game Companies