Video experts believe that Pac-Man's lighthearted graphics, catchy tunes and the absence of exploding spaceships attract women players. The game stars a little yellow figure who is being pursued through a maze by four monsters who want to eat him up. Pac-Man earns points by eating dots and power pills that enable him to gobble up the monsters. Bonus points appear as fruit.

Pac-Man's popularity (and record earnings) have prompted competitors to come out with similar games, such as Atari's Jawbreaker. The list of spin-offs is long. The game has inspired a book, a monthly newsletter, home and tabletop versions, a board game, wristwatch, puzzle and record album.

Last spring, Midway expressed its gratitude to its women customers by introducing Ms. Pac-Man, a more challenging version of the original game. The "new femme fatale" of the video world looks like her mate but has long eyelashes and wears a hair ribbon. This version has a three-act, between-game cartoon series that tells the tale of Mr. and Ms.

Pac-Man's courtship and marriage and concludes with the arrival of Pac-Baby by stork. Ms. Pac-Man already has become one of the top five arcade money earners. An animated TV series featuring the Pac-Man family's adventures aired this September on ABC Television.

As with all video games, Pac-Man's popularity is bound to wane. But the game's legacy, for better or worse, will linger on—women now crowd the video arcades and have begun to play the war games too.