Pac-Man is the latest video game classic to be lovingly recreated in Lego

Pac-Man is the latest video game classic to be lovingly recreated in Lego

Lego’s new Pac-Man set. | Image: Lego

Lego has announced a new premium set based on 1980s arcade classic Pac-Man. The 2,650-piece set is designed to recreate a Pac-Man arcade cabinet, complete with an illuminating coin-slot, four-way joystick, and a mechanical chase.

There’s a crank on the side of the cabinet which you can turn to move the characters around the game’s maze, and the set comes with a diorama of a figurine playing a smaller version of the arcade cabinet. On top of the cabinet sit rotating versions of Pac-Man and the ghosts Blinky and Clyde.

Image: Lego

Turning a small crank makes the characters move around the ‘screen.’

Image: Lego

There’s even an illuminating coin-slot.

The Lego Icons Pac-Man set will cost $269.99 (€269.99 / £229.99) when it goes on general sale on June 4th (it’ll be available to Lego VIP members a couple days earlier on June 1st). That’s the same price as Lego’s other recent video game tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System after last year’s price rise. In case the pricing and brick-count weren’t enough of an indicator, Lego has specified that this Pac-Man set is meant for people aged 18 and over.

The Pac-Man set’s reveal comes 43 years to the day after Bandai Namco (then known as Namco) first tested the game with members of the public in 1980. The arcade game is considered to be one of the most popular of all time, with Lego’s press release noting that it was installed in 293,822 arcade units in the seven years after its original release.

In a fun twist, today’s announcement contains the tidbit that Pac-Man’s yellow color drew inspiration from the “iconic yellow of the Lego brick,” according to the game’s original creator Toru Iwatani.

This Pac-Man machine is the latest in a string of video game collaborations from Lego, which in addition to the NES console have also included a series of interactive Super Mario sets.

Image: Lego

Here’s that crank in action.