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PacManhattan Relocates Classic Game To New York Streets
Matt Slaybaugh writes "Some classmates of mine have developed a 'large-scale urban game that utilizes the New York City grid to recreate the 1980's video game sensation Pac-Man.' One player dresses up as Pac-Man and tries to cover the full Greenwich Village grid, while 4 others dressed as Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde try to catch him. Everyone reports their positions to their respective generals, who monitor progress on a central control board. I can't wait for the real-world implementation of Donkey Kong."
I'll gladly hurl barrels at the submitter... or anyone, really.
Banaaaana!
It's funny, laugh!
How are the ghosts gonna eat the pacman? Cannibals
Happy Hacking!!!
> while 4 others dressed as Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde try to catch him.
What happened to Tinkie-Winkie?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I can't wait for them to go through the Washington Heights and Bronx 'hoods and play with the homies there...
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
I would pay them money to let me do this... RL video gaming; better than crappy 3d goggles.
wannabe mafiosos always click this link
Just imagine dodging taxis...
If I see PacMan running arounf, and call out to the ghosts, is that cheating: ;)
In other news: Al Qaeda members intercepted and arrested today downtown New York, disguised as yellow PacMen. They admitted using a new kind of simulator to train for their failed terrorist attack.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
even more guys who will never, ever get laid...
Why don't you embrace your slashbotness instead of living in a dreamworld?
Somehow, looking at the pictures, I imagine the guy who plays PacMan has a hard time getting dates.
Scene bar:
Guy: "So, baby, what's your sign?"
Women: "What's that big thing sticking out of your chest?"
Guy: "Oh this? Yellow foam. There's one in the back too."
Women: "What's it for for? Do you use it erotically?"
Guy: "Heck no. It's for playing a real-life version of a videogame from the 80s."
*Total silence*
Power Pellets sold by shady characters in dark alleys?
But if you find a rotten apple lying in the middle of the street are you supposed to eat it?
Diego
diegoT
Clearly Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde must be pimps and Pacman is a bitch who outta pocket.
why run from Vincenzo?
until they all have GPS's, and I can watch a satellite map of them running around. GET TO WORK
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
when they decide to scale Halo to real life in NYC...if you think the traffic problems there are already bad, wait 'till there's a Warthog or two....
How do I get the gold key?
I wonder if we can ever simulate this on a computer. That would save a lot of time, money and effort.
It seemed to me that the players reported to their respective general via a cell phone.
_____
Thank you.
OK, this is just so nerdy, so utterly whacko, and such a large scale piece of craziness that you HAVE to love it.
I've been laughing for the last three minutes. This is great! Even my wife likes the idea. Cheers to those doing it.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Well, not Pacman, but my friends and I managed to recreate "Video Pool" in the meatspace. We also sucessfully played Tapper, and "Nick Faldo's golf".
I also know a guy who was really ahead of his time, and was playing GTA almost every night...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
...real life GTA vice city?
Why bother to report position? Why not just automate it with GPS reporting?
Fight Spammers!
Hmm.. I'm not so sure. The rules said that the pac man's general knows everyones position. Does each player (pac man and all ghosts) all have to report to the pac man's general. i.e. Each ghost is making 5 calls on each corner? The rule's page wasn't clear about what seems like the most interesting part of the game.
Ansi's and stupid tricks!
Yes, "The Donald". With the bad comb-over.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Apparently they are having some trouble finding the MAME dump of Pac Man.
-R
All you need is a baseball bat, a good pair of shoes and the fun is guaranteed.
Diego
diegoT
"People of Earth, I am Lrrr of the planet Nintendu 64. Tremble in fear at our three different kinds of ships!" -- Futurama, "Anthology of Interest II"
From episode 174. It was a pretty funny episode. :)
;)
I even found two video clips: #1 and #2. Here are two screen captures: #1 and #2. Thanks to Google for finding these.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
of Half-life. Or Halo. Splinter Cell. Even America's Army
oh wait...
and a movie to go along with it too!
Now if only I can play legit version Galaxia outside...
From the rules:
"At the start of the game, Pac-Man runs along the streets, staying outdoors, within the designated playing area at all times. The ghosts may begin to chase Pac-Man. Pac-Man continues to run the board until all of the dots are "eaten" or one of the ghosts eats Pac-Man."
What does it mean for a ghost to "eat" Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to be within a certain distance from Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to "tag" (physically touch) Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to restrain Pac-Man?
What happens if a random pedestrian interferes with the game?
These are not empty streets where pan-man and the ghosts can run around freely. There is a lot of obstacles and pedestrian and automotive traffic getting in the way of things.
Also, a guy dressed in yellow foam being vigorously chased by other guys dressed in foam is likely to attract attention, probably by the police.
Wouldn't the fastest runner have a distinct advantage over the other players?
In other words, if Pac-Man had the evasive maneuvers of a pro football running back, wouldn't the game kind of be over before it started?
I applaude the creative ressurrection of a childhood pastime, but I am skeptical of the game being much more than an elaborate "tag, you're it" with costumes.
The project website is here where it mentions the top score is 20,000 so far . . . that's a lot of city blocks to have run - even if you assume they maximized each power pellet (4*(200+400+800+1600)), that leaves 8000 points, and at 30 points per block, that's 266 blocks . . . I guess they beat the board a couple times?
They did this in Broken Lizard's Club Dread (same group that made Supertroopers) -- it was easily the best part of the movie.
mov
Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man, until a shrewd Namco employee noticed the opportunity for kids to scrape at the logo, creating a much ruder-sounding game.
Or do they have teleportation pads that send PacMan from the west side of Washington street to the east side of it?
If so, I wanna play it!
(it is called Mario Twins)
Clearly you're not from New York.
These guys are gay and are getting plenty being in Greenwich Village.
In fact, Pac Man is just a metaphor... well I'll let you work it out.
www.bannination.com Two things float to the top he
And don't even ask me about the "real life" Missile Command. Not pretty.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Once they gonna do a real life version of Grand Theft auto in Manhattan ;)
use GPSes and GIS software to monitor and control the game rules. Each player probably needs to see the whole board also, not just a block ahead.
"Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all run around in a darkened room munching pills and listening to repetitive music..."
...and I bet he never forsaw the live-action roleplay version either!
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Space invaders is easy. Get people to jump off buildings while hurling stones down at you. If you get hit, you lose.
Meanwhile, you throw baseballs at them. If they get hit, it triggers the detonation device.
Only problem I see is if you and they miss completely, and a guy is sent falling to his death.
...
Also, a guy dressed in yellow foam being vigorously chased by other guys dressed in foam is likely to attract attention, probably by the police.
Really? why? I must admit that I have never been to Manhattan or America for that matter. You must have lots of police on the street if they have time for that. I never see any police on foot in downtown Copenhagen. Racing around in their cars, es, but caring the slightest bit about on foot, no. To me it just sounds strange why they should care about those goofballs, but I guess it is a different mentality all together
Wow, I missed the part of the article where pacmanhattan.com anounced their IPO. I gotta buy some of that!
The main thing that annoys me about the web is that it enables idiots like parent to inflict their idiocy on the rest of us.
Pacman and Donkey Kong are good, but the real excitement would be a world-wide tour of Rampage.
~L
You see, we don't waste every waking moment of our lives thinking about getting laid. We actually do things we find interesting.
When I see someone like you post something like your post, I already know that I have more of a life than that person. There are more, and better, things than sex.
Unlike you, I actually spend my life doing things that I enjoy--I don't focus on fulfilling animalistic urges and belittling anyone who actually has a real hobby.
And one final thing...how is this real-life Pacman game any more lame than a game where a bunch of musclebound idiots are chasing another musclebound idiot carrying a ball across a field?
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
Folks at the University of Minnesota had a slightly different concept: They used gigantic red, yellow, and blue inflatable game pieces using Minneapolis streets as a game board. It was the Big Urban Game played in September 2003. In case you are wondering, blue won.
The home page of the B.U.G.
Have you Meta Moderated t
Wrong attribution, internet-rumor-boy.
Marcus Brigstocke, a Brit comedian, wrote that, and he is not pleased that you don't know that.
The latest Slashdot meme.
Er... the musclebound idiots are getting laid?
irb(main):001:0>
While we're on the topic of real-life PacMan,
A Cross-Dressing Stanford Ms. Pacman
Berkeley students can never resist the temptation of poking fun at the 'other school'...
I'm Trappped at Berkeley.
Ah yes, so many things in life seem more worthwhile than having sex when there isn't any sex to be had. Oddly enough, the availability of sex does tend to change ones priorities. Hobbies seem boring, reading a waste of time, and thinking itself an unbearable burden. The smell of one's aftershave takes on an increasing importance. One becomes concerned with the threadcount of one's sheets. Insipid banter becomes engaging.
That having been said, I find myself agreeing with you more than I would like these days. Yes, yes, there really is nothing like a good book on quantum mechanics and reading every post to /.
~~~~~~
under-paid karma whore
I can't wait for the real-world implementation of Donkey Kong
for that all you need is a fire escape, some barrels and a really dumb friend.
This is a sport I could really bet on.
And where the Hell is Ms. Pac-Man?
When I see someone like you post something like your post, I already know that I have more of a life than that person. There are more, and better, things than sex.
Like what....? Yeah, try it sometime - it might give you rejuvenated inspiration to pursue even more wacky hobbies and adventures.
There's a reason we were created to enjoy food, crave warmth, and seek sex. It keeps our species alive and vital.
- passion
Like what....?
Like pretty much everything. People are wired differently. Some of them can't enjoy learning stuff, creating stuff, thinking about stuff, or can't enjoy it to a sufficient degree. These people rely on outdated programs that they got from their animal ancestors. These people spend their time trying to get laid, eat more, get higher on the social ladder, etc.
I (like many other people here) have tried sex (with a beautiful and smart girl who liked me), and while I enjoyed it to an extent, it doesn't measure up to pleasures of doing something creative, reading something interesting, solving math problems or talking with smart people.
And if we are talking about raw addictiveness, sex doesn't even beat computer games. How much time can you spend enjoying sex? A few hours at most. A Civilization game, on the other hand......
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
... this isn't what they had in mind.
Yeah, yeah. Call me when they've implemented the wrap-around tunnel.