It hit America in 1982. It was actually a sequel to it's 1980 counterpart Pacman.

Ms. Pacman.

It was all about eating pellets and avoiding ghosts. Wacha-Wacha-Wacha. Get to the next (and more difficult) screen. And the next. And the next. Everyone played it. But not at home.

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Sioux Falls looked just a little bit different in 1982. With a population today of something over 200,000, Sioux falls was less than half that in '82. Think somewhere between 80,000-85,000 and you'd be in the ballpark. When you weren't at the arcade.

And you got swept up in the Ms. Pacman craze. I wasn't in Sioux Falls back then. I was up the interstate in Brookings and yes, I sure do remember slipping in those quarters and playing. I specifically recall sitting at a Ms. Pacman machine at the Pizza Hut. But they were, generally speaking, everywhere!

There's a real good chance that if you lived in Sioux Falls in '82 you were at an arcade in the Empire Mall or the Western Mall. One of my co-horts here at the Radio Ranch mentioned Aladdin's Castle. Now, truth be known I'm not familiar with it, but if you were here in the greatest city in the world, you probably are. Does that name ring a bell?

And if not the Mall's, I'm bettin' you played somewhere along Minnesota Avenue, maybe west 12th or east 10th? Was there a pizza place or a restaurant that had one right near that front door when you walked in? Or maybe that favorite watering hole of yours? Sure, they had one, too.

The world's a different place now of course. But if you were upright and taking oxygen on the planet back there in '82, while your parents were shopping at the Empire Mall or the Western Mall, you were busy chasing ghosts.

Or perhaps standing in line waiting for your turn.

Here's my list of Not-So-Typical, but Awesome Things to See in Sioux Falls.

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