Pac-Mania in Brazil Indiana?

At first glance, I thought that there was an original Pac-Mania for sale on Craigslist really close to me here in Indianapolis. If I wanted, for just $200 and an hour drive to Brazil I could pick this game up. But the listing made me look twice and laugh a little at the sellers naivety.

Good old Pac-Mania by Atari 🙂

LOL. That is what the ad says, Pac-Mania made by Atari 1987;

Pac Mania, Full sized arcade game. 1987 Atari. Works except the color on the 3-D objects are blue all the time. Repair shop told me it can be fixed.

For $200 an original Pac-Mania would be a good deal, especially in this area of Indiana. Without the text in the ad and the main photo of the cabinet you might not be able to tell that this was anything other than a Pac-Mania painted over in black.

But, I did a little searching, and the best guess I have if this is truly an Atari cabinet is that this game was at one time a RoadBlasters (Fun game, photo on the right). Check out the coin doors. It is hard to tell from photos on Klov though, both the original Pac-Mania and Roadblasters have this over under coin door, and I can’t see if the left panel is removable. The marquee puzzles me most, and makes me think that something else is going on because the space for the RoadBlasters marquee would fit a Pac-Mania one.

Either way, from what I know when a monitor loses a color it could be completely toast, at the very least it will need some work. Pac-Mania as a game is really of most interest to collectors who love Pac-man, and they’ll want an original with sideart if possible. I personally don’t want a Pac-Mania, the gameplay is basically Pac-man in 3D, with a few more ghosts and different power ups. But considering this is a conversion with a monitor issue, the guy might be better to drop his price to $125 and see if he gets any bites, especially in this economy. The fact that he reposted it again today tells me he didn’t have much initial interest.

Pac-Mania thoughts? Atari experts?

Help me out. Is this a Road Blasters or not? I can’t see the drive peddle in the provided photo…

Update
I knew someone would point out something obvious. Pac-Mania was made by Namco, and licensed by Atari in 1987. It’s the same angular cabinet that Galaga88 and Dragon Spirit uses, you can check out the Pac-mania flyer at Arcadeflyers.com which has Atari plastered all over it.

So, $200 for a real Pac-Mania with painted over sideart. Doesn’t matter if the artwork is still underneath or not really…it still won’t look nice if you get the paint off (even if it’s latex). But knowing that it is original makes it a little more valuable and possibly worth paying the asking price. I’m starting to doubt that the owner picked it up at the USAmusements auctions.

Update Sept. 6th, 2008
Heard back from the sellers. They have owned the Pac-Mania since May of 2006 and bought it at a yard sale. Originally it was at the American Legion or the VFW before it was sold. The arcade game is still for sale, they’re looking for offers now.

Update Sept. 9th, 2008
Sounds like the Pac-mania is staying local, at least for the time being. Aaron here in Indianapolis picked up the Atari machine, here is the Pac-mania topic on the Klov forums.

Since the cabinet is wired for JAMMA it can be a versatile addition to a gameroom. If Aaron is a fan of Pac-man games he can keep it for the artwork and switch other popular JAMMA boards in and out. This would allow him to keep the game for a little while to see if an eventual resurgence in the economy would bring arcade values back up or not.

But my guess is that he got the game for $100, maybe less based on the emails I got back from the seller. I saw a second posting for this game on Craigslist, I thought it was a reposting at $200 but the seller ended up posting the Pac-Mania again for $100 so that is what Aaron paid. Sounds like the game is heading out to Colorado. Interesting to see how such large arcade games can easily traverses the United States.

Here is Aaron’s VAPS profile list of the arcade games he owns here in Indianapolis which include Tempest, Q*Bert, Galaga, Paperboy and other classics. His list has exploded in the last 6-9 months.

Here are some similar arcade posts

• Dedicated Jr. Pac-man on Craigslist in AZ
• New Jr. Pac-man Registry entry
• Bought First Pac-man in Indianapolis, IN
• For Sale – Mr. & Mrs. Pac-man Pinball
• Buy Some Jr. Pac-man NOS Artwork

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