Happy 40th anniversary, PAC-MAN!
Join us in shellebrating with . . . PAC-TORT! The cuter, GRUMPier version of the classic arcade game! 😋😤🐢🕹
Ready! . . .
. . . NOM!
The new PAC-TORT game is much more . . . leisurely paced than the classic . . . . 🤨
PAC-TORT was actually Kirby’s costume for Halloween! Kirby’s winter blues hit early, so I had to wait for his spring fever to kick in last month before he was up for any video acting in his costume. Spring fever Kirby is always up for any acting that requires nomming!
Rather than spamming all of Kirby’s Halloween photos here as well, I will stick with posting just a few of my favorites. Less work for me, and more in keeping with this WordPress blog focusing on the crafty aspects! (If you’d like to see the rest of the PAC-TORT photos, click right here!)
It’s CHOMPing time, Pinky!
I was so excited when I thought of this idea for Kirby’s Halloween costume! Kirby loves to CHOMP, and CHOMP is all PAC-MAN does!
Say shello to the ultimate CHOMPer! (Who needed more teaching than expected to nom mere apple pieces off the wall…Radicchio on the wall, on the other hand…)
All of the life-size PAC-TORT game is safely nom-able! The dots are apple pieces (Yellow Delicious in Kirby’s Halloween photos, yellow-skinned parts of Gala apples in the video), the cherry bonus is also an apple piece (Gala), Blinky the ghost is radicchio, Inky the ghost is greens (romaine lettuce in the photos, escarole in the video), and Clyde is Japanese pumpkin (kabocha squash). Green is kind of like blue, so the ghost colors match up to the PAC-MAN ghost colors if you ask me!
It’s waka waka time!
This is the only photo where the dots are Gala apple pieces! (Teaching PAC-TORT to nom apple pieces off the ground was much easier than off the wall. 🙄)
This time, instead of asking Kirby to sit for multiple costume fittings, I had the (genius, in my humble opinion) idea to mold a straightened paper clip into an outline of Kirby’s shell that I used as a pattern for the base of Kirby’s costume.
Kirby is now too big for even two straightened paper clips to go all the way around his shell!
I started out by trying to crochet PAC-TORT as all one piece, but I quickly discovered that gave very weird and wrong-looking shapes. So I ended up crocheting PAC-TORT as two different pieces that I then sewed together.
Bottom half molded onto the paper clip outline of Kirby’s shell!
The top is part of a basic ball, and the bottom is a sort of curved trapezoid, crocheted in rows:
Pieces complete and ready for assembly!
Kirby’s PAC-TORT Costume
Top half
Worked in continuous rounds:
Chain 2. Sc 6 in second chain from hook.
Rnd 1 Inc around. (12)
Rnd 2 *Inc, sc 1* around. (18)
Rnd 3 *Sc 1, inc, sc 1* around. (24)
Rnd 4 *Inc, sc 3* around. (30)
Rnd 5 *Sc 3, inc, sc 1* around. (36)
Rnd 6 *Sc 1, inc, sc 4* around. (42)
Rnd 7 *Sc 3, inc, sc 3* around. (48)
Rnd 8 *Inc, sc 7* around. (54)
Rnd 9-11 Sc around. (54)
Sl st in next stitch. Finish off.
Bottom half
Worked in rows:
Chain 42.
Row 1 Sl st in third chain from hook, sc, hdc, 33 dc, hdc, sc, sl st. Finish off. (39)
Row 2 Join new thread in first dc of Row 1. Sc in next st, sc 2, inc, sc 6, inc, sc 7, inc, sc 6, inc, sc 5, sl st. Finish off. (37)
Row 3 Join new thread in third sc of Row 2. Sc in next st, sc 29, sl st. Finish off. (31)
For “ledge” inside, dc 27 around on the inside between Rows 1 and 2 of the bottom half, starting right after the third dc of Row 1. Finish off.
Sew bottom half to top half. Let CHOMPing commence!
Successful final fitting before assembly!
When sewing the two halves together, I mimicked the “v” of crochet stitches so that the seam blends in, *ahem*, seamlessly. I am extraordinarily pleased with how well this worked!
No seams discernible anywhere! 😏
As with Kirby’s Jack Shellington costume, I crocheted a “ledge” around the inside of the base to keep PAC-TORT from sliding right off Kirby’s shell.
Ledge ready for attachment!
Once I put the finished costume on Kirby, I discovered a new problem: The top half is (unsurprisingly) too heavy to stay up on its own. So I straightened a couple of paper clips, molded them into slightly curved “v” shapes, and threaded them into PAC-TORT’s mouth “hinges” so that they keep their characteristic “v” shape standing up.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Ta da! Standing upright with distinctive pizza slice mouth intact!
Originally, I wasn’t planning to make Brunhilda a costume, too, but then I realized she would be perfect as a ghost (again) and I couldn’t think of any good pink colored foods big enough to cut a ghost from anyways. (Plus, three ghosts seemed like plenty already for Kirby to CHOMP! He has always been an adventurous but not very big eater!)
BFF dino Pinky!
…with eyes on both sides for easier photo/video-taking. 😅
PAC-TORT ghosts ready for gaming!
The aftermath of PAC-TORT…
Ghost stencil based off this adorable light! Dots are around the size of the ghost’s irises.
Closing out by showing off PAC-TORT’s logo one more time (it took me an hour to make!):
The cutest and GRUMPiest arcade game ever!
(Font is Typodermic Fonts Inc.’s Crackman Front.)
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