The Pac-Star: Pac-Man Oddities

Sticker Oddities

Due to imperfections in printing or mistakes, every set of trading cards always has some uncommon, rare, and/or unique variants. Some are sought after by collectors (and thus have a value) while others are not. While it usually is impossible for a collector to collect every kind of defect, it is fun to collect some representative samples. Below some of the known Pac-Man stickers oddities are listed.

Oddity Picture Details
Misaligned 3-color printing on version A wrapper Yellow Wrapper This defect affected all of the packs in a box. Presumably Fleer produced hundreds of packs before discovering and correcting the problem.
Misaligned 3-color printing on version B wrapper White Wrapper The example at left is similar to the previous one but more subtle. The blue ink is slightly off, and it may be a bit darker than normal.
Misaligned die cut on sticker The example at left shows a sticker which was die cut off center. The bottom of the ghost actually touches the bottom of the card.
Ink smear sss The example at left shows magenta ink smeared over certain areas of the sticker.
Ink smear (another example) sss In my own personal complete set of version C, I have several "ink smeared" stickers, and they are all numbered in the second half of the set. Perhaps Fleer printed the stickers in two plates (of 28 stickers each), and one day they didn't clean their magenta plate very well.
Ink bubble sss Modern printing is so good that I rarely see this defect anymore, but in the past sometimes when you printed something the ink would form a small bubble on the press which would then transfer to what was being printed. The example at left is from a Super Pac-Man sticker (though I have seen this defect in Pac-Man stickers as well). The bubble is at the top of the card.
Imprecise cut (color at edge) (Imprecise Cut Example) At the right of this Super Pac-Man card is a light blue streak. The lighter color is from the adjacent card before it was cut by a machine. This particular "defect" is actually normal due to the way Fleer printed and cut the stickers side-by-side; in fact, it would be very difficult to obtain a set of stickers that were cut perfectly. This defect occurs in ALL card sets: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Super Pac-Man (although it seems to be more common and more pronounced in the Super Pac-Man set).
Mystery sticker (front) sss Russ Perry Jr. sent me a photograph of this "mystery" Pac-Man sticker! It is unlike any other that I have seen. It looks like version C, but it also has "PAC MAN TM" on it (similar to the Ms. Pac-Man version B sticker set). Even weirder is the back of the card (see below).
Mystery sticker (back) sss It looks like half the card is missing! I have two theories so far: 1) It's a bootleg card printed by a different company than Fleer; 2) It's a "version E" card which Fleer intended to print the back in two colors but forgot to run it through the press a second time. Any information about this card is welcome!

Document last modified 15 Sep 04 by Kevin Jay North

Oddity	Picture	Details
Misaligned 3-color printing on version A wrapper		This defect affected all of the packs in a box. Presumably Fleer produced hundreds of packs before discovering and correcting the problem.
Misaligned 3-color printing on version B wrapper		The example at left is similar to the previous one but more subtle. The blue ink is slightly off, and it may be a bit darker than normal.
Misaligned die cut on sticker		The example at left shows a sticker which was die cut off center. The bottom of the ghost actually touches the bottom of the card.
Ink smear		The example at left shows magenta ink smeared over certain areas of the sticker.
Ink smear (another example)		In my own personal complete set of version C, I have several "ink smeared" stickers, and they are all numbered in the second half of the set. Perhaps Fleer printed the stickers in two plates (of 28 stickers each), and one day they didn't clean their magenta plate very well.
Ink bubble		Modern printing is so good that I rarely see this defect anymore, but in the past sometimes when you printed something the ink would form a small bubble on the press which would then transfer to what was being printed. The example at left is from a Super Pac-Man sticker (though I have seen this defect in Pac-Man stickers as well). The bubble is at the top of the card.
Imprecise cut (color at edge)		At the right of this Super Pac-Man card is a light blue streak. The lighter color is from the adjacent card before it was cut by a machine. This particular "defect" is actually normal due to the way Fleer printed and cut the stickers side-by-side; in fact, it would be very difficult to obtain a set of stickers that were cut perfectly. This defect occurs in ALL card sets: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Super Pac-Man (although it seems to be more common and more pronounced in the Super Pac-Man set).
Mystery sticker (front)		Russ Perry Jr. sent me a photograph of this "mystery" Pac-Man sticker! It is unlike any other that I have seen. It looks like version C, but it also has "PAC MAN TM" on it (similar to the Ms. Pac-Man version B sticker set). Even weirder is the back of the card (see below).
Mystery sticker (back)		It looks like half the card is missing! I have two theories so far: 1) It's a bootleg card printed by a different company than Fleer; 2) It's a "version E" card which Fleer intended to print the back in two colors but forgot to run it through the press a second time. Any information about this card is welcome!