Play Meter
Issue: 1982 May 01 - Vol 8 Num 9 - Page 6
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GUEST EDITORIAL
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Hats off to ladies
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1981 may go down in history as the beginning of the
Golden Age of Video Games and Flippers. Many great
games appeared during the year, which raised the level of
prosperity in the industry to such heights as it has never
enjoyed before .
To the people who gave us Asteroids, Centipede,
Defender, Tempest, Berzerk, Donkey Kong, Qix,
Phoenix, Astra Blaster, Monaco GP, Space Panic, Eight
Ball Deluxe, Black Hole , and a few others, we say "Well
done ."
Before going on with this column, may I point out that
we are not Bally/ Midway distributors, neither do we own
a single share of Bally stock, so anything we say is
unbiased and unsolicited.
But , we feel we would be remiss in our duty if we did
not pay special tribute to a game that broke the sex
barrier as far as amusement games are concerned.
Before the advent of Pac-Man, the fair sex confined their
coin machine playing to the slots in Vegas, a few flippers,
and rarely video games- but Pac-Man changed all of
this.
Early last spring when we received one of our first Poe-
Mans (we never were able to get too many) we placed it
in a shopping mall. After it had been out there a few days
we decided to inspect the mall and see how all the games
were doing. As we entered the mall we saw in the dis-
tance a group of girls surrounding some object, thing, or
person.
Coult it be that Robert Redford was a visitor or per-
haps it was some rock star drawing all the feminine
attention? No, this was not the case.
As we got closer, lo and behold, a girl was playing Poe-
Man and there were four or five ladies watching. This
was a new phenomenon. We had never seen this before.
After Pac-Man had been out for several months,
strong men and boys could not get near the games. All
the Poe-Mans were surrounded by a bevy of smiling and
laughing females-teeny boppers, teenagers, coeds,
mothers, grandmothers - all vying with each other to
play Pac-Man.
What was this great appeal to females? Was Pac-Man
a sex object? If only Freud were alive so he could
enlighten us .
So, after a year of Pac-Man, we believe the entire
industry owes a vote of thanks to Midway for opening up
the do01 : to an entirely new market of feminine video
fans .
Truly we now can all stand up and shout, "Baby,
you've come a long way." Thank you, Hank, Dave,
Larry, Andy, and everyone else who had a part in proving
that the hand that rocks the cradle now plays video
games.
Ed. Note: The female player's uiew of the "new waue" of
uideo games is explored in-depth by writer Mary Claire
Blakeman in a feature article, this issue.
PLAY METER, May 1, 1982
~
L
0
1'0
GUEST EDITORIAL
u
-~
~
Hats off to ladies
and Pac-Man!
~ E
CC(
0
~
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c
Ill
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.. ..
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by Louis Boasberg
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... nl nl ...
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• • •
nl
.
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0
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...
. E
-~
1981 may go down in history as the beginning of the
Golden Age of Video Games and Flippers. Many great
games appeared during the year, which raised the level of
prosperity in the industry to such heights as it has never
enjoyed before .
To the people who gave us Asteroids, Centipede,
Defender, Tempest, Berzerk, Donkey Kong, Qix,
Phoenix, Astra Blaster, Monaco GP, Space Panic, Eight
Ball Deluxe, Black Hole , and a few others, we say "Well
done ."
Before going on with this column, may I point out that
we are not Bally/ Midway distributors, neither do we own
a single share of Bally stock, so anything we say is
unbiased and unsolicited.
But , we feel we would be remiss in our duty if we did
not pay special tribute to a game that broke the sex
barrier as far as amusement games are concerned.
Before the advent of Pac-Man, the fair sex confined their
coin machine playing to the slots in Vegas, a few flippers,
and rarely video games- but Pac-Man changed all of
this.
Early last spring when we received one of our first Poe-
Mans (we never were able to get too many) we placed it
in a shopping mall. After it had been out there a few days
we decided to inspect the mall and see how all the games
were doing. As we entered the mall we saw in the dis-
tance a group of girls surrounding some object, thing, or
person.
Coult it be that Robert Redford was a visitor or per-
haps it was some rock star drawing all the feminine
attention? No, this was not the case.
As we got closer, lo and behold, a girl was playing Poe-
Man and there were four or five ladies watching. This
was a new phenomenon. We had never seen this before.
After Pac-Man had been out for several months,
strong men and boys could not get near the games. All
the Poe-Mans were surrounded by a bevy of smiling and
laughing females-teeny boppers, teenagers, coeds,
mothers, grandmothers - all vying with each other to
play Pac-Man.
What was this great appeal to females? Was Pac-Man
a sex object? If only Freud were alive so he could
enlighten us .
So, after a year of Pac-Man, we believe the entire
industry owes a vote of thanks to Midway for opening up
the do01 : to an entirely new market of feminine video
fans .
Truly we now can all stand up and shout, "Baby,
you've come a long way." Thank you, Hank, Dave,
Larry, Andy, and everyone else who had a part in proving
that the hand that rocks the cradle now plays video
games.
Ed. Note: The female player's uiew of the "new waue" of
uideo games is explored in-depth by writer Mary Claire
Blakeman in a feature article, this issue.
PLAY METER, May 1, 1982
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).