Bandai Namco has a few new items out for arcades to enjoy – one of which is a video game. Let’s see what the charity version of Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash is all about, along with some non-video fun sourced from other companies like Tom & Jerry’s Kitchen Chaos, and Tower Island.
Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash For Charity
Seen briefly at Amusement Expo, a new model for Bandai Namco’s current classic compilation arcade machine, Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash For Charity, is now shipping. This has a special software mode that allows it to be used for charitable event donations, where it treats any bill inserted into the game as 1 credit. It also features a bay where you can see the donated cash/coin at the bottom. It’s an interesting way to raise funds for a good cause, although it can also operate as a normal Pixel Bash machine if you wish. You can see the game in this YouTube clip, it’s brief though.
Note that Ms. Pac-Man is not included here, since that’s still an IP that’s tangled up in a weird legal mess. That is basically the case with the several other versions of Pixel Bash that are out there – Ms. Pac only appears when the game is set to free play mode. The game cannot operate in any kind of cash exchange situation. Perhaps that’ll change one day, but still not for now.
Tom & Jerry Kitchen Chaos
Now onto the two non-video pieces. These are naturally less of interest, but though it has some curiosity value, the Pixel Bash charity cabinet can’t really carry an article by itself. For those who enjoyed Namco’s Pac-Man Smash and Big Bang Smash air hockey tables, here’s something of a successor to them that instead features the Tom & Jerry license. It appears to be based on Change Goal Hockey from Superwing in China, which as the name implies has a different gimmick in which goals switch mid-gameplay. Also from what I observed, it didn’t have any mini-pucks, just a lot of regular sized ones that it throws out onto the playfield. Less chaotic (and less of a pain for operators), but still fun:
Tower Island
For more redemption from BNA while we’re at it here, fans of coin pushers, or rather, “tower builders”, will also be delighted by the new Tower Island by Arccer Amusement (again out of China) that they are distributing in the West. This one was, of course, originally known as Tata Island before being re-localized. In it, you can build coin towers that are 150 coins in height. That does seem rather difficult, as by how I understand it, the towers are pushed out onto the playfield by a certain number of marbles that tip over the edge… which you can’t really control. That or I just do not get the fine art of coin pushers… probably a part of why this is a rare piece of coverage on them by us at AH.
Which of these new games from Bandai Namco are you interested in? Would you run a Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash cabinet for charity?
Thanks for this and interested in the Namco charity game version. I don’t run an arcade but if I saw the same in the UK, i’d be willing to use it for the sake of giving a few pounds to charity, depending on what one it was going to. Of course, we don’t have the same bill validator tech. over here as we have our crappy £1 and £2 coins, with the smallest note being a £5. In fact, I can’t remember the last note acceptor I saw here… 🙁 What I am interested in though is what is the “split” in the money? Is it that all paid in money must go to a charity, or is it anything over the standard say, $1 a credit goes to charity whilst the operator would keep the $1 “due”? Like for a $10 bill inserted, where $1 = 1 credit, you’d get $1 and the charity would get $9? Does the operator have to somehow send the money on, or does someone come and collect it? Can you choose the charity you want to support? I also wonder how long a window with cash behind it would last here in the UK! That would be likely smashed / cut out in minutes! Thanks in advance. Regards James