Main · Guide · Arcade Game Info · Console Game Info · Differences · Pac-Mania · Patterns · Tips & Tricks · Test · Downloads · Links

The Guide to Pac-Man


Pac-Man is a "visual game." That is, a game which you play where there are things on a "screen," or "monitor" if you will, and where you are controlling what is seen on the monitor by using a device of some sort, a "stick of joy" in most cases, though sometimes a "keypad" or a typewriter-like device known as a "keyboard."
The start of the "visual game"
The character that you move in the visual game called Pac-Man has the same name as the game, "Pac-Man." Pac-Man is a yellow circular person. Using your controlling device, you can move Pac-Man in 4 "directions:" "upward," "down yonder," "right-handed," and "the way that's left."
Pac-Man is a yellow, circular person

The environment in which Pac-Man dwells is known as a "labyrinth." In this labyrinth, there are several types of treats for Pac-Man to "consume." Each one will add "points" to a number which is known as your "score."
"Spots" are worth 10 points each. There are a lot of spots in the labyrinth and each one must be consumed before you can move to the next "level" of the visual game.
A spot
There are larger, flashing spots known as "pellets of power." When you consume a pellet of power you get 50 points and something wonderful occurs but we will get to that part further down in the guide.
A pellet of power
Bonus items, known as "fruit" appear twice in each level. A fruit can give you anywhere from 100 points to 5000 points, depending on what kind of fruit you have consumed and what level you have attained.
Fruits
Now the part of the visual game which you must watch out for are the four other moving characters, known as "phantoms." Each phantom is a different hue. The phantoms move around the labyrinth just like Pac-Man but instead of consuming spots, pellets of power and fruit, they try to end the life of Pac-Man by touching him and causing him to slowly disappear.
The phantoms
Most of the time you must avoid letting the phantoms catch up with where you are, but if you consume a pellet of power they will turn an azure hue and you then have the power to consume them! The point values for phantoms are 200, 400, 800 and 1600.
Phantom who has
turned an azure hue
After a phantom is consumed, his ocular appendages will return to the "rectangle in the middle of the labyrinth" where he will be restored to the way that he was before you ate the pellet of power.
Ocular appendages and the
rectangle in the middle
of the labyrinth

In the labyrinth there is a "magical doorway." By going through the magical doorway, Pac-Man can go from the right-handed side of the screen to the side that's left and vice versa! But be on your guard when you "perform this trick" because the phantoms have the power to go through the magical doorway as well! The magical doorway does slow the phantoms down, though, so you can use it to escape from them for a little while.

You are given 3 Pac-Men at the beginning of the visual game. When you attain a score of 10,000 points you receive another one. When you run out of Pac-Men the visual game comes to an end.



Main · Guide · Arcade Game Info · Console Game Info · Differences
Pac-Mania · Patterns · Tips & Tricks · Test · Downloads · Links