Rather than purchasing and developing land around Atlantic City, Monopoly Arcade Pac-Man has players moving through a literal game of Pac-Man complete with a Ghost token that is moved based on an independent dice roll every turn. Special spaces are replaced with power-ups like cherries and power pellets, and all banking is controlled digitally by the miniature arcade cabinet that allows players to complete short runs of the original game whenever they pass “Go.”
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Pac-Man has never left the public consciousness as an icon of video gaming since his arcade days, in-part thanks to newer versions of the game like Ms. Pac-Man as well as continued attempts to revitalize the brand through other genres such as 3D platformers. The character first appeared in 1980, and Bandai Namco has released numerous goodies such as Pac-Man sake for its 40th anniversary.
That continued popularity of the arcade icon can also be seen through references made by other groups. For instance, Pac-Man is now a recurring character in Super Smash Bros., and the British virtual band Gorillaz released a new song called “PAC-MAN” as part of its “Song Machine” project to celebrate the character’s anniversary.
Because of this timing, it makes perfect sense for Hasbro to be releasing a Pac-Man-themed Monopoly set, much like it’s releasing Mario-themed Monopoly and Jenga. Hasbro has also been continually working on its action figure-oriented toy lines, as recently a game called G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout was leaked that seems to be based on the current line of G.I. Joe Classified Series figures.
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