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Giant Pac-Man Breaks Guinness World Record
posted on by Eric Stimson
A crowd of 351 people at Tokyo Tower broke the Guinness World Record for Pac-Man Image Made with the Largest Number of People on May 21. The participants were mostly students of the Yamano Beauty College and wore yellow raincoats while standing in Pac-Man's iconic pie-like shape. In order for Guinness's drones to verify completion, the participants had to stand absolutely still for at least five minutes — no small feat considering the heat and crowd.
After the five minutes were up, two people in the crowd revealed themselves as Shingo Yanagisawa and Naomi Watanabe, two comic actors. After the record was verified, Yanagisawa and Watanabe announced that they would be appearing in the Japanese dub of Pixels, an upcoming film on Pac-Man and other classic arcade game characters, although their roles remain unknown. Watanabe thanked everyone for their work. "It was so hard I lost five kilos [about 11 pounds] in those five minutes, it was hell. You're all great."
The actors appeared on stage with Tōru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man, who had produced the event. Yanagisawa recalled how he had spent eight hours at a time playing Space Invaders in a cafe in the 1980s, going through five cups of coffee per session. Iwatani complimented Watanabe on her Pac-Man dress, thanked everyone for their work and appeared about to cry. Yanagisawa expressed his admiration for Iwatani's lasting influence, kneeled before him, and asked if he could call him "Master."
Left to right: Iwatani, Yanagisawa and Watanabe
Other sights commemorating Pac-Man's 35th birthday on May 22, as well as the upcoming release of Pixels, include 50-person squads of Pac-Man cosplayers in five major Japanese cities and a Mini car advertising Pixels that will drive around Shibuya, Tokyo. Pixels is scheduled for an American release of July 24 and a Japanese release of September 19. Its second trailer was recently revealed.
