I know most of you are roughly my age, so you remember the 1980s. What was your favorite arcade video game? I am not talking about home consoles like the Atari 2600, which I absolutely loved. I mean going to an actual arcade, armed with a stack of quarters, and feeding those machines until you were broke.

Originally, I loved Space Invaders, but if I had to pick my all-time favorite, it would have to be Ms. Pac-Man. Back in the day, I could put one quarter in that machine and play for an hour. I was that good. Even now, when I randomly come across one, I can still hold my own.

Ms. Pac-Man has a pretty interesting history. It actually started as an unauthorized modification of the original Pac-Man game. A group of MIT students developed an add-on kit called Crazy Otto to give Pac-Man some new life. When Midway, the US distributor of Pac-Man, got wind of it, they struck a deal to turn it into an official sequel. Ms. Pac-Man was born, and it went on to outsell the original game, becoming one of the most successful arcade games of all time.

It also introduced a few innovations. Unlike Pac-Man, where the ghosts followed predictable patterns, Ms. Pac-Man had more advanced ghost AI, making the game harder and less repetitive. It also added new maze designs and little intermission cutscenes, which made it feel more like an evolving game rather than just the same thing over and over.

I do eventually plan on buying one of these machines. It is not about the money; it is about the space. I have got nowhere to put one until I get a bigger house. LOL

So, what was your favorite arcade game from the 80s? Were you a Donkey Kong fan? Did you spend all your quarters on Galaga? Maybe you were into Defender or Joust? Let's hear it.