DIY engineer Jonathan Guberman has done it again with a Pac-Man sculpture that chomps by turning a hand-crank.
We last saw Guberman’s handiwork with a typewriter-computer hybrid that allowed you to play Zork, the classic text adventure from Infocom, by typing on a real typewriter, with the responses printed onto the paper. Not content to rest on his laurels, or his screwdriver, Guberman has whipped up something that he calls the Pactuator. Turning a bronze crank on the intricately carved frame makes the cogs and gears go round and powers the yellow Pac-Man’s mouth to open and close. The elegance of the design, not to mention the authentic sound effects in the video, are really impressive.
The Pactuator is actually a prototype for a much more extensive project. “I’m working on a playable, mechanical Pac-Man cabinet, which I’m calling ‘Pac Machina,'” Guberman wrote on his blog, Up, Not North. “My dream, if I can pull it off, is to auction the finished product to raise money for Child’s Play.”
If the Pactuator is any indication, Pac Machina is going to be pretty dang sweet. I’ll be following Guberman’s progress with equal parts glee and anticipation.
Also, what self-respecting gamer wouldn’t want the Pactuator on his wall. If Guberman is looking for funding to complete his project, he could come up with a worse business model than putting Pactuators up on Etsy.
Step one: Make clockwork Pac-Man.
Step Two: ????
Step Three: Profit!
Source: Up not North
