''Baby Pac-Man'' is a hybrid maze and

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

game released in arcades by Bally Midway on October 11, 1982, nine months after the release of ''

Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to '' Pac-Man'' (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's ...

''. The cabinet consists of a 13-inch video screen seated above a shortened, horizontal pinball table. The combination fits into roughly the same size space as an upright arcade machine. The development of ''Baby Pac-Man'' was not authorized by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...

. It was designed and released entirely by Bally Midway (as were the earlier ''

'' and ''

Pac-Man Plus ''Pac-Man Plus'' is an arcade game that was released by Bally Midway on March 13, 1982, and it is the third title in the '' Pac-Man'' series of games. Gameplay The gameplay in ''Pac-Man Plus'' is nearly identical to that of the original ''P ...

''), which contributed to Namco canceling its relationship with Bally Midway. 7,000 units were produced.

Gameplay

Play begins on the video screen, where the player controls Baby Pac-Man through a maze. Play mechanics are similar to '' Pac-Man'' in that the object is to navigate the maze while gobbling dots and avoiding ghosts. In contrast to earlier games in the series, ''Baby Pac-Mans maze starts with no energizers, which allow Baby Pac-Man to eat the ghosts. Instead, there are two vertical chutes at the bottom edge of the screen, which suspend video play and transfer the game to the pinball table located just below the monitor when the player travels down either of them.

Pinball mode

The mechanical pinball section operates as a traditional, though smaller, pinball table. The player hits targets with a metal ball using two button-operated flippers. The player may earn energizers, gain new fruit bonuses, and increase tunnel speed, all of which are used in the video mode. After losing a ball, the game resumes on the video screen, but with the chutes closed. The player must clear the maze or lose a life to reopen the chutes. The game ends when the player runs out of lives.

References

External links

* * * {{Pac-Man series 1982 video games Arcade games Arcade-only video games Midway pinball machines Pac-Man arcade games 1982 pinball machines Bally pinball machines Unauthorized video games Video games about children Video games developed in the United States