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Tōru Iwatani

Japanese video game designer, creator of Pac-Man (born 1955)

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Born
January 25, 1955
Age in 2026
71
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1955

About Tōru Iwatani

Tōru Iwatani (岩谷 徹, Iwatani Tōru; born January 25, 1955) is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known and commemorated for being the creator of the arcade game Pac-Man (1980). In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. With the assistance of programmer Shigeichi Ishimura, Iwatani created Gee Bee, released in 1978. Working with a small team of nine employees, Iwatani created Pac-Man, test-marketed on May 22, 1980, and released in Japan in July and in North America in October. The record was set and recognized in 2005, and recorded in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. On June 3, 2010, at the Festival of Games, Iwatani received a certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having the most "coin-operated arcade machines" installed worldwide: 293,822.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Tōru Iwatani timeline

  1. With the assistance of programmer Shigeichi Ishimura, Iwatani created Gee Bee, released in 1978.
  2. Working with a small team of nine employees, Iwatani created Pac-Man, test-marketed on May 22, 1980, and released in Japan in July and in North America in October.
  3. The record was set and recognized in 2005, and recorded in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008.
  4. On June 3, 2010, at the Festival of Games, Iwatani received a certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having the most "coin-operated arcade machines" installed worldwide: 293,822.

The world when Tōru Iwatani was born

Tōru Iwatani was born in 1955. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1955

  • #1 song"Rock Around the Clock" – Bill Haley & His Comets
  • Top movieMarty
  • Top TV showThe $64,000 Question
  • Best-selling bookLolita – Vladimir Nabokov

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBrooklyn Dodgers win their first World Series
  • Top headlineRosa Parks sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • Technology milestoneDisneyland opens in Anaheim, California
  • Defining fadJames Dean and rebel culture
  • Notable inventionVelcro commercially available
  • World population2.77 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championBrooklyn Dodgers (World Series)
  • Also wonSyracuse Nationals (NBA)
  • U.S. population165.3M

1955 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Tōru Iwatani's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19552026
Gas$0.29$3.45/gal
Average home$10,950$435,000
Average income$6,200$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.50$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population165.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.