Pac-Man

How to play Pac-Man

The original: Pac-Man by Namco (1980). Ours is an independent remake, not affiliated with Namco.

Pac-Man is the maze chase that every arcade remembers. You steer a hungry yellow circle around a maze, eating every dot while four ghosts hunt you. Touch a ghost and you lose a life; eat a power pellet and the roles flip for a few seconds, so the ghosts turn blue and you can eat them. Clear every dot to move on to a faster maze. This is a Pac-Man style game built from scratch for the browser, with its own maze, artwork and sound.

Controls

← ↑ ↓ → or W A S D — steer. Press a direction early and Pac-Man takes the turn as soon as the corner is there. Reversing is instant.
Touch — swipe anywhere on the maze, or use the arrow pad under it.
P or Esc — pause (the game also pauses when you switch tabs). M — mute. R — restart. Space or any direction starts.

Scoring

Dot: 10. Power pellet: 50.
Ghosts eaten during one power pellet: 200, 400, 800, 1,600.
Fruit appears twice per maze (after about 70 and 170 dots) for 100 up to 5,000, growing with the level.
One extra life at 10,000. You start with three lives.

Meet the ghosts

Blinky (red) chases the tile you are standing on. When only a few dots are left he speeds up.
Pinky (pink) aims four tiles in front of you, so she tries to cut you off rather than follow.
Inky (cyan) is the unpredictable one: his target is Blinky's position mirrored through a point two tiles ahead of you.
Clyde (orange) chases you from a distance but loses his nerve and runs for his corner when he is within eight tiles.
Every few seconds the ghosts switch between scatter (each heads for its own corner) and chase. They turn around when that happens, and they slow down inside the tunnel.

Tips & strategy

Use the tunnel. The side exits wrap around the screen, and ghosts crawl through them. It is the best place to shake a chase.
Bait the ghosts into a pellet. Lead them on a lap and eat the pellet when they are all right behind you, so the whole line is edible.
Learn the personalities. Blinky follows right behind you, Pinky tries to cut you off from the front, Inky depends on where Blinky is, and Clyde is only dangerous at range.
Eat the corners first. Clear the dots that are hard to reach while the ghosts are scattered, and leave the open corridors for later.
Corner early. Press the next direction before you reach the junction: the turn is buffered and Pac-Man takes it the instant it opens.

About Pac-Man

Pac-Man was designed by Toru Iwatani at Namco and released in Japan in 1980 as Puck-Man; Midway brought it to North America later that year under the name we know. In an arcade full of shooters, a game about eating and escaping reached a far wider audience and turned Pac-Man into one of the most recognisable characters in gaming. Each ghost follows one simple rule for choosing where to go, rather than any real intelligence, and the difference between them is what makes the chase readable and fair. The maze, characters and sounds of the original belong to Namco; everything on this page was made from scratch.

Frequently asked

How do I play Pac-Man? Steer Pac-Man with the arrow keys or WASD (swipe on the screen or use the on-screen pad on a phone). Eat every dot in the maze to clear the level while you avoid the four ghosts. Touching a ghost costs a life, and you start with three.

How do the ghosts in Pac-Man behave? Each ghost has its own personality. Blinky (red) chases the tile you are on. Pinky (pink) aims four tiles ahead of you to ambush you. Inky (cyan) flanks you by mirroring Blinky's position around a point just ahead of you. Clyde (orange) chases you from far away but runs back to his corner when he gets within eight tiles. Every few seconds they all switch between scatter, when they head for their own corners, and chase.

What do the power pellets do? The four large pellets turn the ghosts blue and slow them down, and you can eat them for 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 points in a row. Eaten ghosts turn into eyes and race back to the pen. The effect gets shorter on every level and is almost gone on the late ones.

How do I earn an extra life? You earn one extra life when your score reaches 10,000 points. Fruit appears twice on every level, worth from 100 up to 5,000 points, and helps you get there.

Is Pac-Man free? Yes. No signup, no downloads, no installs.

Does my high score save? Yes. Your best Pac-Man score saves in your browser and also goes on the public leaderboard under your first name. You can change your name on your profile.