Tag Archives: dig dug

Celebrate Your Pixel Art Love with These Colorful Plexiglass Sprites

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Those of us who grew up playing video games back in the 1980s have a special place in our hearts for the pixel art characters from the 8-bit arcade and home console world. From Pac-Man to Dig Dug to Donkey Kong to Galaga, game artists had to really stretch their creativity and imagination to give us memorable and identifiable characters using the most primitive of blocks and limited color schemes.

If you love old school pixel art as much as I do, then you need to check out this collection I found over on Etsy.

Idaho-based artist Thunktronix makes all kinds of nifty collectible trinkets based on classic video game characters and items, including all of the aforementioned games, along with Robotron 2049, Wizard of Wor, Frogger, Space Invaders, and more. Each of the sprites is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, so you can put a whole bunch of these on your shelf without taking up too much space.

Each one is precision cut from 1/4″-thick plexiglass, with some characters getting colorful backprinting, and others left to stand on their own as see-through shapes. In addition to video game characters, they’ve got a few other great designs, like Ignignokt and Err, the iconic, antagonistic, bird-flipping Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which I just had to buy for myself.

Some pieces are sold individually, while many of them come in complete sprite sets. Prices start at just $5 for a single keychain-sized figure, while full game sprite sets range from $25 to $32. You can check out all of their designs over on the Thunktronix Etsy shop.

Dig Dug Can Cozy: Pump it up!

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Retro gamers looking for a way to keep their beer and sody pop nice and cool should look no further than this fun can cozy designed to look like Pooka, the inflatable round nemesis of Dig Dug.

dig dug can cozy

It’s just one of many fun can, bottle and coffee cup cozies over at Crochet Cozies’ Etsy shop, where you can also find such masterpieces as the LEGO Minifig and the epic Where’s Waldo beer cozy.

The Pooka can cozy will set you back $38(USD), and is guaranteed not to explode – unless you connect a compressed air hose to the can. Then all bets are off.

Arcade Mash-up Prints Confuse and Amuse

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Say the words Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Centipede, Galaga or Joust, and you’ve just named some of my all-time favorite arcade games. So when I stumbled onto these unusual variants of these 1980s classics, I was at once befuddled and at the same time intrigued.

donkey dug

These mash-up prints were created by 9times1minus1 (also known as “eight”) over on Etsy, and they envision the characters from iconic arcade games invading other games. So for instance, there’s Donkey Dug, which puts Pooka, Fygar and Dig Dug on Donkey Kong’s girders.

joust bros

Then, there’s Joust Bros., which is the perfect synthesis of Joust and Mario Bros. I always thought those levels looked similar, and flinging turtles into the lava pit below makes just about as much sense as ostriches anyhow.

donkey burger

Other mashups include Donkey Burger (DK x BurgerTime), and the oddly named, but somehow appealing Ms. Paciaga (Ms. Pac-Man x Galaga).

ms paciaga

While I’m not sure that I would have wanted to play all of these games, I have to say that some of them look like they would have worked just fine as 9times1minus1 envisions them. When you really think about it, did the plots and characters in any 1980s video game really make that much sense? Why couldn’t Jumpman have been a chef on a quest to make the perfect hamburger? I would have ponied up a quarter to try my hand at that.

If you’d like to line your walls with these unusual video games, they’re available for $25(USD) each as 16×20 digital prints over on Etsy.