If you lived under a rock in the 1980’s, or if you were born in a decade since, you wouldn’t know a whole lot about Pac-Man. So here’s some info that will help you in your quest to eat fruit … or at least to get your ghosts fruit-munching on your Arcade Table.
Using the joystick, players control Pac-Mac through a maze and guide him to eat as many pac-dots as possible. Once all the dots are eaten, Pac-Man progresses through to the next stage. This is here four ghosts name Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde wander around the maze with the ultimate goal of catching Pac-Man. Once a ghost touche Pac-Man, a life is lost. When all lives are lost, the game is over.
Power pellets
You’ll see in the corner of the maze, four larger flashing dots and these are called power pellets. They give Pac-Man temporary abilities to eat the ghosts which turn deep blue, reverse direction and move more slowly. When Pac-Mac eats a ghost, the ghost’s eyes return to the ghost home where it reverts to its normal colour.
Keep a watch on the ghosts because they flash from blue to white before they turn dangerous and the length of time for which they flash grows shorter as you move through the stages of the game.
Fruits
As well as pac-dots and power pellets, Pac-Man also gets bonus items, most of which are fruits. They appear near the centre of the maze and grant extra bonus points when eaten. The items and bonus values are different throughout the game.
Pac-Man Cheats
It is possible to follow a pattern on each maze that will always clear the screen without being caught by the ghosts. It is also possible to hide indefinitely in one place on the screen. Where Pac-Man starts on the maze, there’s a “T”-like wall above him. If you guide Pac-Man up to the right-most part of the “T” from the bottom without any ghosts seeing you go in, they’ll never enter that spot. You need to stay still, facing up.
The four ghosts
The ghosts are Pac-Man’s enemy and they want to follow him around with the goal of eating him. Each ghost has a different personality, name, colour and nickname.
- Pinky: pink in colour, real name Speedy, very fast.
- Blinky: red in colour, real name Shadow, hard to shake, always stays behind Pac-Man.
- Inky: light blue in colur, real name Bashful, very shy and actually prefers to run away from Pac-Man.
- Clyde: orange in colour, real name Pokey, does his best to catch Pac-Man but is very slow.
Pac-Man trivia
- Did you know that Pac-Man was created when Toru Iwatani looked down at a pan of pizza with one slice missing? The circle with the missing wedge that looked like a mouth became the character in his new video game.
- Pac-Man was originally called Puck Man but it was changed because the middle section of the ‘P’ could be scratched away and cause offence.
- Other stories have it that the name Pac-Man was derived from the Japanese adverb ‘paku’ which describes gaping, biting or snapping mouths.
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