Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 19:38:19 EST
From: stu1087 (General Unix Account)
Message-Id: 9303020038.AA06397@discover.wright.edu
To: [redacted]@gisatl.fidonet.org
Subject: additions to folklore list
Cc: [redacted]@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.