Pac-Man (stylized in all capitals as PAC-MAN) is an arcade game designed by Toru Iwatani (1955–) of Namco, and released in Japan as PUCKMAN in May 1980. Licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway Games, it was released in October 1980, at a time when the top arcade games were "stark" space shooters such as Galaxian and Asteroids. Pac-Man established the conventions of the maze chase genre, and is considered to be one of the classics in video game history and an icon of 1980s popular culture. There may have been a gender divide between gamers in different genres; according to one estimate published in 1982, 60% of Pac-Man players were women, while 90% of those playing space shoot-'em-up Omega Race were men.
