Inside Report (3)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet our new fiscal officer, Pac Man.

The self-same game that gobbles spare change in video arcades around the globe is making money for colleges and universities in the US. Income from the games is helping to offset the cost of running dormitories and student unions. Says Richard Blackburn, executive of the Association of College Unions International, it's an easy and obvious source of revenue. The dormitory or union shares up to half of the video game booty with the machine owners.

The pinball machines of recent years are being replaced by video games in many places, because they're more popular and raise more money.m