Following on from last week’s review of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures and this week’s lookback at Pac-Attack, it seems fit to focus this month’s eBay round-up on Pac-Man.
Unsurprisingly, a Pac-Man arcade cabinet is the highest valued Pac-Man item to have sold on eBay recently. It’s not the original Pac-Man arcade game though, but rather a Pac-Man Ball ‘coin pusher’ machine. The neat thing about this cabinet is the little TFT flat screen in the middle, which is used to play a clone of of ‘Bust-A-Move’ – when coins pass through certain places on the table Pac-Man will fire a coloured ball. If three a matched up a bonus is earned. Incidentally, we’ve never seen an arcade owner fill one of these machines up with 2ps before – they’re usually loaded with 10p or 20p coins. It sold for £840.
An auction from the US next. This unused Pac-Man joystick watch from the early ‘80s fetched $449.99 (approx £274.20). Joysticks were changeable with each colour relating to a different ghost, including Pinky (pink), Blinky (orange) and inky (blue). It does appear that one joystick is missing, but nevertheless it’s a nice little item. An unboxed model sold for £155 even though the strap appears not to be the original.
Two boxed Pac-Man 30th anniversary Zippo lighters sold for similar amounts – £199 each. One featured a depiction of the game in play, while the other a large embossed golden Pac-Man.
Three boxes of unopened Fleer Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man stickers and trading cards sold for £243 – or thereabouts, anyway – the auction ended as a ‘best offer’. As well as standard stickers and trading cards featuring Pac-Man and his ghostly cohorts in various poses and situations, some cards were coated in scratch off foil and could be used to play an impromptu game of Pac-Man. Dragon’s Lair was given the same treatment with similar ‘rub off’ cards.
The seller of this sealed box of 24 Pac-Man Valentine’s Day cards wasn’t quite as lucky as not one soul was tempted to have a bid. “For girls, boys and teacher†reads the front of the box.
Despite being far from trash, this bright yellow Pac-Man trash can also failed to find a seller. £45 was the original asking price. A reasonable price seeing that the seller notes there are no dents and the paint is as vibrant as it was when new. A trash can with a different design – and seemingly in worse condition – did however manage to sell for £30.
The next item is quite common but remains desirable – the Pac-Man board game, as featured during Charlie Booker’s recent ‘How Video Games Changed the World’ program. A new and unplayed set ended at £36 on a Buy it Now auction.
Taking Pac-Man to lunch with you wouldn’t be wise These Pac-Man lunch boxes are however pretty neat. A worryingly rusty looking metal tin Pac-Man, with matching Thermos flask, ended at £24 while a plastic box featuring artwork from the Pac-Man cartoon sold for £30.
How about some actual Pac-Man games to round off this round-up? A ‘Pac-Man 2’ LCD game from 1981 ended at £26, a Tomytronic Pac-Man tabletop for £23, an excellent condition copy of Pac-Man on NES for £39 and a factory-sealed copy of the oft-forgotten Pac-Man World on PSone for £32.
Right, that’s enough about Pac-Man for a while.