Pac-Man Battle Royale

I was really pumped about this game when I heard about it. It looked like it should be a fun game when a bunch of people were over playing it at the same time. I also love the look of the flatscreen cabinet with the tall cocktail w/cupholder layout.

I finally played one a few months back and the gameplay was terrible. There are three rounds and you only play until one person is left. It doesn't last very long and it is basically luck of the draw. I was really disappointed.

There are probably no boards for sale separately since it is a new game. Why offer a PC board when you can sell the whole game for $4000+?
 
I was really pumped about this game when I heard about it. It looked like it should be a fun game when a bunch of people were over playing it at the same time. I also love the look of the flatscreen cabinet with the tall cocktail w/cupholder layout.

I finally played one a few months back and the gameplay was terrible. There are three rounds and you only play until one person is left. It doesn't last very long and it is basically luck of the draw. I was really disappointed.

There are probably no boards for sale separately since it is a new game. Why offer a PC board when you can sell the whole game for $4000+?

I don't think this is a game in the traditional sense like we deal with. it's probably something like a small form factor PC running proprietary software. That's probably the bulk of the price.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion as to whether it's fun or not... but this game is not based on "luck of the draw"

If you bump into another Pac while NOT hopped up on a power pill, you both bounce back pretty far. You can use this move to your advantage to knock opponents into other players/ghosts. There are lots of other tricks as well.

There's a strategy and if you do it right, you can play for a while on one credit.

I think it's great. Try it out yourself.
 
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The winner doesn't get to play again for free does he? I guess that must be a setting because I won several times in a row at 1up and kept having to put quarters in.

I wouldn't say the gameplay is terrible, but it's nothing amazing. They didn't want to overcomplicate it, which you can't really blame them for since there were some real stinker Pac-man sequels.

Good tip on knocking the other players into ghosts and other pac-men.
 
I played it a few times and I don't like it. I don't know what is meant by the "luck of the draw" above. Each time I played it the playfield populated in the exact same way. In fact, I feel that is greatly benefits players who start in certain positions (certain colors). If that could be resolved it would be a much better game. For now it is a "race to the power pellet then eat everything in sight before the playfield repopulates" game. It is too bad that certain players start off right next to the first power pellet and others are so far away, this makes for a horribly unbalanced games in my opinion...
 
I'm surprised to hear that the one you played was set to three rounds, that is something I would complain to the operator about to be honest. The operator can set it to 3-9 rounds so at three they are basically cheating you out of a full game. With more levels the game changes what you see a little more as you progress. I have mine set at 7 rounds for 50¢ to give people their money's worth.

It's also a much more entertaining game with 4 ppl, the single player is a bit lame.

The hardware used in the game is not a PC, it a proprietary board, just like in the good ol' days. I snapped some pictures of the insides here:

http://arcadeheroes.com/2011/07/29/pac-man-battle-royale-unboxing/

When I asked Namco about the hardware, all they would tell me is that it's "System 157" and it's the same hardware used on Pac-Man's Arcade Party. Namco isn't selling just a PCB of the game, that doesn't seem to be their style anymore (like most of the major arcade manufacturers these days).
 
I'm surprised to hear that the one you played was set to three rounds, that is something I would complain to the operator about to be honest. The operator can set it to 3-9 rounds so at three they are basically cheating you out of a full game. With more levels the game changes what you see a little more as you progress. I have mine set at 7 rounds for 50¢ to give people their money's worth.

It's also a much more entertaining game with 4 ppl, the single player is a bit lame.

The hardware used in the game is not a PC, it a proprietary board, just like in the good ol' days. I snapped some pictures of the insides here:

http://arcadeheroes.com/2011/07/29/pac-man-battle-royale-unboxing/

When I asked Namco about the hardware, all they would tell me is that it's "System 157" and it's the same hardware used on Pac-Man's Arcade Party. Namco isn't selling just a PCB of the game, that doesn't seem to be their style anymore (like most of the major arcade manufacturers these days).
How are the earnings?
 
How are the earnings?

I'd say 'meh', now that the newness of it has worn off. Maybe maximum $50/wk running on 50¢ a pop. As a small arcade my earnings don't meet up to larger places but comparing it to my other games it moves around between 3rd and 7th place overall. Terminator, Dariusburst, Tokyo Drift and usually Blazing Angels do better than it does, depending upon the week.
 
It's too bad there's just the one game on this machine. It's 2011, manufacturers, embrace digital distribution already! Games are too expensive and don't offer enough replayability to make good money.
 
I don't think this is a game in the traditional sense like we deal with. it's probably something like a small form factor PC running proprietary software. That's probably the bulk of the price.

Yeah, the era of the "JAMMA board" is long over. PCs with custom I/O boards hooked up to custom wiring harnesses is the de facto standard today. In Japan, JAMMA is being usurped by JVS, which is much better suited to proprietary and PC computers than it is boards, and that's mostly what they're using over there now. So, yeah, you're not gonna see too many "boards" anymore, it's all about steel boxes containing hard drives now.

FYI, part of the attraction of PCs for arcade manufacturers is they deliver a LOT of processor and graphics horsepower for silly cheap. It's a cost reduction thing more than anything, as building a proprietary board with the same power would cost 10x as much.
 
Just got an email from D&B's

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IDK - I liked it when I played at the Houston Arcade Expo.
Enough to buy it new? nope.
Enough to own it one day... maybe.
 
PAC-MAN® Power Girls

They will be showing this off tonight in San Jose

I may stop by around 9:30 for a little while to check it out.
I hear the game is pretty fun.
 
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