Pac-Manhattan
Encyclopedia
Pac-Manhattan is a real-life version of Pac-Man
created in 2004 and covered by the New York Times that year. It was invented by graduate students at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts
, New York University
. It uses Wi-Fi
technology, open-source software
, and cell phones.
The game is played with ten people: "Pac-Man" and his "controller" (who keeps contact with him via cell phone and keeps track of how much of the city he has covered), and the four ghosts and their controllers. Pac-Man and the Ghosts play out the game on the streets of Manhattan
while their respective controllers give them information and strategy advice via cell-phone from the control room.
If the person touches a street sign at a street intersection, it is counted as a power pellet, and the "Pac-Man" can chase down the ghosts.
Pac-Man and his controller have an intelligence advantage as a result of Pac-Man's controller having a bird's eye view of the game. Pac-Man's controller can see the current position of all the Ghosts on the streets, although the Ghosts' controllers cannot see the current position of Pac-Man, only that of the other Ghosts. Thus the Ghosts' numerical advantage is balanced against Pac-Man's information advantage.
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
created in 2004 and covered by the New York Times that year. It was invented by graduate students at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. It uses Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
technology, open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
, and cell phones.
The game is played with ten people: "Pac-Man" and his "controller" (who keeps contact with him via cell phone and keeps track of how much of the city he has covered), and the four ghosts and their controllers. Pac-Man and the Ghosts play out the game on the streets of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
while their respective controllers give them information and strategy advice via cell-phone from the control room.
If the person touches a street sign at a street intersection, it is counted as a power pellet, and the "Pac-Man" can chase down the ghosts.
Pac-Man and his controller have an intelligence advantage as a result of Pac-Man's controller having a bird's eye view of the game. Pac-Man's controller can see the current position of all the Ghosts on the streets, although the Ghosts' controllers cannot see the current position of Pac-Man, only that of the other Ghosts. Thus the Ghosts' numerical advantage is balanced against Pac-Man's information advantage.
See also
- Location-based gameLocation-based gameA location-based game is one in which the game play somehow evolves and progresses via a player's location. Thus, location-based games almost always support some kind of localization technology, for example by using satellite positioning like GPS."Urban gaming" or "Street Games" are typically...
- New York Times article about Pac-Manhattan
External links
- Official Pac-Manhattan website
- Official Pacman@Lyon website : the game played by a French team