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Pac-Man

The original dot-eating arcade legend

5-15 min👥 1Medium📱 Mobile-friendly🌐 Plays in browser
🎮 Play Pac-Man Now

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Our Verdict

One of the most studied games in history for a reason — the ghost AI creates genuinely different threat patterns on every maze run, making it more than pure memorization.

What We Like

  • Four ghosts with distinct AI produce emergent threat patterns that differ every game
  • Power pellets create brief reversal windows that reward aggressive play
  • 255 levels of increasing speed give the game a genuine difficulty ceiling
  • Google Doodle version adds a two-player Ms. Pac-Man mode with a second player on the same keyboard

Watch Out For

  • Maze layout is fixed and memorizable — experienced players can essentially script optimal routes
  • Ghost AI at high speeds requires frame-perfect turns that can feel arbitrary
  • Google Doodle version plays the Pac-Man jingle on load with no mute option

How to Play Pac-Man

  1. 1Use arrow keys to steer Pac-Man through the maze eating pellets
  2. 2Clear all pellets in the maze to advance to the next level
  3. 3Eat a large Power Pellet in a corner to temporarily turn ghosts blue and vulnerable
  4. 4Eat blue ghosts for bonus points — they flash before becoming dangerous again
  5. 5Learn the scatter phase: ghosts retreat to their home corners briefly at the start of each level
  6. 6Use tunnels on the left and right edges to escape ghosts — ghosts slow down inside tunnels

Controls

keyboard
Arrow keys to move; second player uses WASD in the Google Doodle 2-player mode
touch
Swipe in any direction to steer on mobile

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the ghost names in Pac-Man?

Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), and Clyde (orange). Their Japanese names are Oikake, Machibuse, Kimagure, and Otoboke — meaning 'chaser', 'ambusher', 'fickle', and 'feigning ignorance', which describe each ghost's AI behavior.

Is there a perfect Pac-Man score?

Yes — 3,333,360 points on level 255 (the 'kill screen' where the right half of the maze corrupts). Billy Mitchell was the first to achieve it in 1999. The kill screen on level 256 makes the game unplayable beyond that point.

How do I play the Google Pac-Man Doodle with two players?

On the Google Doodle page, click Insert Coin a second time to add Ms. Pac-Man. Player 1 uses arrow keys; Player 2 uses WASD. Both characters navigate the same maze simultaneously.

Game Details

Developer
Namco / Google Doodle
Released
1980
Players
1
Session
quick
Difficulty
Medium
Mobile
Yes
Embeddable
Yes