Pac & Pal

Manufacturer: Namco
Year: 1983
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Labyrinth/Maze
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Vertical
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color

Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:

Joystick: 4-way (up, down, left, right)
Buttons: 1 [Fire]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

CABINET PICTURE NEEDED FOR Pac & Pal - Click for details on how to contribute.

Pac & Pal Description

In this sequel, Pac-Man unlocks doors by flipping over playing cards. Instead of power pills, Pac-Man takes on the powers of two special targets per round. Bonus rounds involve turning over as many cards as possible before finding the red monster.

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Cheats, Tricks and Bugs

It is possible to "stun" all of the monsters more than once with a single "powerup" item, giving the player lots of extra bonus points - listen for the alarm and try to get in a few additional shots as the monsters are waking up. In addition, the powerup beams travel through the walls, making it possible to stun the ghosts from a safer vantage point.

Game Introduction

This installment puts a nice spin on the Pac-Man series. Pac-Man doesn't ever eat any ghosts in this game; he blasts them with the Galaga tractor beam, the smokescreen from Rally-X, musical notes, etc. There are no side exits on the screen, but there is an orange area in the center of the maze that slows down the monsters when they pass through it. The placement of the red monster on the bonus rounds is random, and it appears to not follow any pattern.

Only three doors can be unlocked at any given time. "Pal", the friendly green ghost, often steals the unlocked prizes and takes them to the monster base where they are lost forever.

Game Play

The object of this game is to clear each round by gobbling up all of the bonus targets. No "dots" are present in this installment (a la Super Pac-Man).

VAPS Arcade Census

GAMES OWNED, WANTED, or FOR SALE BY MEMBERS OF THE VIDEO ARCADE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Scarce - There are 5 known instances of Pac & Pal owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 2 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 3 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Of the 57,098 video games (3,420 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 2 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - There are 2 VAPS members currently looking for Pac & Pal.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

The game uses two 6809 microprocessors and a Namco 8-channel PSG for sounds.

eBay Listings

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Pac & Pal Videogame machine and items related to it.

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Namco.

Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).

Legacy

Pac & Pal - Title screen image

Photo contributed by: Cyberhick

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