From stu1087 Mon Mar 1 19:38:27 1993 Return-Path: Received: by discover.wright.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA06397; Mon, 1 Mar 93 19:38:19 EST Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 19:38:19 EST From: stu1087 (General Unix Account) Message-Id: <9303020038.AA06397@discover.wright.edu> To: jdeitch@gisatl.fidonet.org Subject: additions to folklore list Cc: stu1087@discover.wright.edu Status: R There are two games of concern here: Pac-man and Space Invaders Part II. Pac-man: I was personally inundated with the rumor of the gold bars in Pac-man. Several of my acquaintances had reported seeing them. Here are the facts: - depending on whom you talked to, they appeared after 12, 15, or 24 keys. - some machines had them, some did not. This explained why people had gone really high and not seen the gold - even the book "How to Master the Video Games" by Tom Hirschfeld describes "... a series of gold and silver bars" - the gold bars, worth 10,000 points each, were followed by two screwdrivers, worth 25,000 points. - a related rumor said that eating the eyes (enroute back to the pen following the eating of a blue monster) was worth "a lot of points". This clearly never panned out, though. - one day I pressed a friend for what the gold bars looked like. She replied "They're like .... striped". On a totally separate occasion, a somewhat inarticulate maintenance man at King's Island amusement park near Cincinnati, told me while in one of the video arcades "yah, afta the gode bars, dere's dese pointy-like things. 25,000 points each." in an apparent reference to the screwdrivers. So as you can see, accepting that these gold bars are but a myth has been quite difficult for me to swallow. Space Invaders Part II: Made by Taito, lic. to Midway, there is a wonderful "Rainbow Explosion" if a player manages to shoot a 10-point invader last. This one is said to be true. Michael E. Kotler stu1087@discover.wright.edu