Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man
Model No: 1283
Released: May 1982
Designed By: George Christian
Art By: Pat McMahon and Margaret Hudson
This pinball, like the name suggests, took the Pac-Man theme, which had a lot of momentum after two spectacular games (Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man), and used it as the basis for a pinball machine. And unlike the later game, Baby Pac-Man, it didn't try to be a video game... much. Flyers for this game proclaimed the marriage of the two pac-characters to celebrate the occasion.
In the center of the playfield was a rather unique feature. A 5 by 5 grid of round lights, that during the game, would become a little bit like a video game. When the player activated it, you would control a light using the two flipper buttons on the side. The left button would change the direction, the right would advance the light, representing Pac-Man, one step. The total number of steps you'd get would depend on targets hit during play. A red light would appear soon after it was activated, and start chasing you. Yes, it was hard to control.
There was also a digital display in the middle of the playfield, right under the Pac-Maze, which was extemely unusual for a pinball.
The game talked, which was starting to become more and more common, by using digitized speech samples stored in ROMs. Instructions would be given during play, allowing the player to always be aware of what was going on, and what to do next.
The backbox was divided into two segments. The top segment, slightly larger than half of the backbox size, had the backglass, showing Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man together, running down a street, trying to escape a ghost. The bottom segment had the four digital score displays, along with the credit and match.
The Playfield:
The playfield was of a rather unusual design, overall.
The plunger lane led straight to a curved lane, nearly 3/4ths of a circle around, with a straight lane heading down from the top center. The circular lane ended by curving back around to the left, putting the ball directly onto an upper playfield flipper.
In the top center was a mini-playfield. There was the one flipper to the bottom right of the mini-playfield, and a lane heading out the top and curving off to the left. The upper left corner had a set of three drop targets, and two pop bumpers were situated to the bottom left and bottom center of this mini-playfield. The ball could leave or enter to this playfield to the left or right of the center bumper.
The middle left and middle right of the playfield had entrances to two lanes. The right lane led straight up to the top of the starting circle, with a saucer-style kicker a couple inches below, in the center of the circle. This kicker is one place to start the Pac-Maze. The left lane runs up and around connecting to the top left of the mini playfield. There's also a saucer-style kicker in the curve of the lane, which also starts the Pac-Maze.
In toward the center of the table from the lane entrances are two sets of drop targets, one on each side, with the open space leading to the mini-playfield on the other side. There are four targets for each set, with three stand-up targets located behind each set of drop targets.
On the bottom left is the typical triangular kicker/inlane/outlane set up seen on most pinballs. There was a gate that would open, directing a ball from the outlane down to the flipper, saving the ball from draining. On the right side, the setup was a little different. The innermost lane was the outlane, heading straight down to the bottom of the playfield. The outer lane curved around at the bottom, sending the ball across the outlane, to the flipper. (or at least most of the time, occasionall a ball will drain here)
The center display was the Pac-Maze. A set of four arrow lights above indicates the direction of movement when the maze is active. Right below the maze was a set of five Pac-Man lights, showing the lives a player has for the Pac-Maze. Further below was a digital display, which would show the accumulated moves and the number of Pac-Mazes completed.
The Rules:
Hitting the drop targets will add moves for the pac-maze. To activate the Pac-Maze, a minimum of six moves must be accumulated.
Hitting all of the stand-up targets behind the drop targets, to spell P-A-C-M-A-N, will earn another pac-man for the pac-maze. All of the drop targets must be hit before the P-A-C-M-A-N targets will start to light.
Sources:
The Internet Pinball Database, www.lysator.liu.se/pinball/IPD/
Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man, http://www.classicgaming.com/pac-man/Pac-Games/MrAndMrs/
Action Pinball & Amusement, http://www.aros.net/~rayj/action/mmpac/mmpac.htm