Game History
An arcade game about eating
In the late 1970s, Iwatani saw an opportunity to attract people who rarely played arcade games, particularly women. He chose eating as the central idea and drew the characters with a playful look. The maze gave players an objective they could understand at a glance. The ghosts made reaching the last few dots a problem worth thinking about. Iwatani’s account of the design
From Puck Man to Pac-Man
Namco introduced the game in Japan in 1980. The original cabinet used the name Puck Man, drawn from paku paku, a Japanese expression that evokes opening and closing the mouth while eating. Midway brought the game to the United States under the name Pac-Man. Bandai Namco’s 1980 archive · The Strong’s Pac-Man collection entry
How the four ghosts track Pac-Man
In chase mode, each ghost aims for a different tile. As Pac-Man moves or turns, those targets can shift. At intersections, a ghost picks the available turn that brings it closest to its target, so the target describes where it is trying to go, even when walls send it another way.
- Blinky (red) targets the tile Pac-Man currently occupies.
- Pinky (pink) usually targets four tiles ahead of Pac-Man. When Pac-Man faces up, an original arcade quirk also shifts the target four tiles left.
- Inky (cyan) starts with a point two tiles ahead of Pac-Man. Draw a line from Blinky to that point and extend it the same distance again. The endpoint is Inky's target. When Pac-Man faces up, the starting point also shifts two tiles left.
- Clyde (orange) targets Pac-Man when he is eight tiles or more away in a straight line. Closer than that, he targets his lower-left corner.
In scatter mode the ghosts normally head for their own corners. A power pellet switches vulnerable ghosts into frightened mode, which changes how they choose turns and gives Pac-Man a chance to chase them. The Pac-Man Dossier and its targeting diagrams
Pac-Man Fever
The arcade hit spread to home versions, merchandise, and an animated series on ABC. The song Pac-Man Fever reached the Billboard Hot 100 top ten in 1982. The character was recognizable even to people who had never dropped a quarter into the cabinet. The Strong on Pac-Man’s cultural reach
Beyond the original maze
Ms. Pac-Man introduced a new lead character and multiple maze layouts. Super Pac-Man changed the objective to collecting foods and added a pellet that transformed the character into a larger, invincible version. Later collections brought the original game back alongside variants from different eras. The Strong inducted Pac-Man into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2015. Bandai Namco’s franchise timeline · Pac-Man Museum+ · World Video Game Hall of Fame
Discovered tricks and hacks
Original 1980 arcade version.
Cut upward where the ghosts cannot turn
Four upward turns near the middle of the maze are off-limits to ghosts in chase and scatter modes. Use one when a ghost is on your heels. A ghost can still enter that passage from the other end, and frightened ghosts can make the upward turn. The side tunnels also slow the ghosts while Pac-Man keeps his speed. The Pac-Man Dossier and its maze diagram
Pass through a ghost on a rare frame
If Pac-Man and a ghost swap adjacent tiles on the same frame, the game can miss the collision. It takes exact timing, so treat it as a rare glitch during normal play. The Pac-Man Dossier's frame-by-frame explanation
Find the hidden dots on level 256
A level-counter bug scrambles the right half of the maze. Nine dots are still collectible on that side, including four you can hear but cannot see. The nine dots reappear after a lost life, which can add points, but the board still cannot be cleared. The Pac-Man Dossier's split-screen map