The little yellow fellow beats chess at Tokyo Game Show

It's official: Pac-Man is the Game of the Century, even more popular than chess, jigsaw puzzles, Monopoly and Scrabble.

The special award was picked up on behalf of Pac-Man by Namco founder Masaya Nakamura at the recent Toyo Games show.

Walter Day, Chief Score Keeper at the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, gave the award, meant as part of a drive to bring the world's attention to the historical significance of the videogame.

"On behalf of the worldwide videogames industry," Day said, "I am throwing down the gauntlet and proclaiming that videogames affected the culture of the 20th century more than any single mode of entertainment, and Pac-Man, the 'king' of videogames, was the most important title."

He went on to say that more man-hours in the 20th century have been devoted to Pac-Man than any other game, including chess, and that Pac-Man is now more recognised than Mickey Mouse.