Pac-Man Knockoff Board Game Is Ridiculous... And Awesome

JonB

Don't Take Crap from Life
Sep 16, 2012
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Pac-Man Knockoff Board Game Is Ridiculous... And Awesome



It is beautiful, hand made, and completely absurd.

Last year about the time of SPIEL Essen, the world's biggest board game convention, rumors started circulating about a ridiculous Pac-Man knockoff game. Later, when Scott Alden of BoardGameGeek got his hands on a copy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUJlvtgfrv8&feature=player_embedded], it became clear that not only did it exist, but it was handmade, beautiful, and an absolute labor of love. And, apparently, really fun to play. Now you can own it too - since Whacky Wit has an indiegogo campaign for an international edition with rules in English. For only 279 Euros. Did I mention it's handmade, wooden, and beautiful?

The game board is made of hand worked wood, with each component lovingly assembled by a team of German workers and given an aluminum plate with a unique serial number. It's also apparently huge - with the creators saying "this game is so large that it does not fit in a closet." Which, I doubt they've seen my closet, but they gave it wall mounts. So you can mount the wooden Pac-Man knockoff game on your wall. Right.

If you're curious about how the game plays (Hint: It's Pac-Man, but with four people), here's a video of it in action. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTIRteeg1E&feature=player_embedded]

Whacky Wit's international edition is on indiegogo right now [http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/whacky-wit-the-boardgame] and I have no idea how to feel about it. Knockoff or genius?

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CriticalMiss

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Jan 18, 2013
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So how long until the folks with the Pac-Man license demolish this? It looks cool, moreso than the old Pac-Man board game, but if they will potentially get sued it seems a bit risky to invest in them.
 

JonB

Don't Take Crap from Life
Sep 16, 2012
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CriticalMiss said:
So how long until the folks with the Pac-Man license demolish this? It looks cool, moreso than the old Pac-Man board game, but if they will potentially get sued it seems a bit risky to invest in them.
Hard to say if it'll happen. Midway games imploded and they've been selling them in Germany for almost a year unimpeded. I do not know the particulars of EU Copyright law here, so I can't offer professional commentary.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

Crowsplosion!
Apr 8, 2008
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As a lover of board games, I have to thank you for my newest Youtube subscription. That was pretty fun to watch.
 

hickwarrior

a samurai... devil summoner?
Nov 7, 2007
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There was a game made by pacman that kind of looks similar to this one. Think guru larry and ashen made a video on that one.

this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx_g47kKs]. Couldn't embed it.
 

UltraPic

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Dec 5, 2011
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JonB said:
CriticalMiss said:
So how long until the folks with the Pac-Man license demolish this? It looks cool, moreso than the old Pac-Man board game, but if they will potentially get sued it seems a bit risky to invest in them.
Hard to say if it'll happen. Midway games imploded and they've been selling them in Germany for almost a year unimpeded. I do not know the particulars of EU Copyright law here, so I can't offer professional commentary.
Well it would be namco who would be interested since it is their ip, midway just had the north American distribution license for arcade machines. Hopefully they see it and pick it up.