Nicholas Lezard of The Guardian once suggested to him [Martin] (facetiously, surely) that it was among the best things he’d ever written, and that it was a mistake to have allowed it to go out of print. "The expression on his face," wrote Lezard, "with perhaps more pity in it than contempt, remains with me uncomfortably."

http://www.themillions.com/2012/02/the-arcades-project-martin-amis-guide-to-classic-video-games.html

"Do I take risks in order to gobble up the fruit symbol in the middle of the screen? I do not, and neither should you. Like the fat and harmless saucer in Missile Command (q.v.), the fruit symbol is there simply to tempt you into hubristic sorties. Bag it."

This is where I have to disagree with Mr Amis. For me the action is the juice, and at least on higher levels grabbing the fruit is the difference between obtaining the high score or having your efforts relegated to the mists of volatile memory. Tourists ignore the fruit, gleeful just to clear the board, but the PacMan player seeks greater conquests and higher scores.