Pac-man ghosts house trick:

So if you are playing a new version, you’d better move as fast as you can instead of sticking out in one place. There is a lot of technics of avoiding the ghosts, but one thing you should remember – Blinky always tries to find the quickliest way to get behind you, and Pinky – to stop you at the direction were you are heading towards. For more information see Wiki Strategy. Good luck!

Here are some tips which you could use (you should try them if you want to go to the last 256 level

In the maze there are several points (items) thanks to what Pacman can survive. For example, the Power Pellets. These are those pulsating dots marked green (or white, in other versions). When Pacman eats them, he can also for a while eat a ghost (they turned blue for a few seconds) and earn extra points. But there is a hook – the ghosts regenerate in the center of the maze called the ghost pen. You can be killed by a regenareted ghost even though the may still be blue.

So, what should you do? First of all, avoid Blinky (the red one) and Pinky (the pink one). They are the most dangerous of the four ghosts. Blinky has the ability to search the shortest way to you and Pinky knows where you are heading. The best advise is to stay away from these two, even if it means getting closer to Inky and Clyde, and eat them first, if you have the opportunity – it would keep them out of play longer. The ghost have also an area which is due to them – the ghost’s patrol areas are indicated on the map by respective colors. When the board first starts, each ghost travels to their respective corners and patrols the area until they all decide to hunt for Pacman. After hunting him for a while, they will periodically return to patrolling for a brief period of time. But watch out – they can be unpredictable. Blinky the ghost is very fast, especially with directional changes. His domain is the top right of the gameboard maze. It can help if you retreat quickly from Blinky and not in a straight line.

Pinky runs quickly in the top left quadrant of the maze after Pacman, while Clyde is slower, and can be eluded by taking evasive action in the bottom left side of the maze. Inky is even slower than Clyde, but can shift personality in an instant in the bottom right portion of the game maze. The middle of the maze is the safest for Pacman, because of the larger number of escape routes, while the bottom row and the corners are the most dangerous.The tunnels are also tricky. Although Pacman moves quicklier than ghosts, when he’s eating dots, he moves slower.  In fact the best way to avoid chasing ghost is to turn on in a clear alley (be aware of continuing to eat dots – it is a surefire way to get caught by a ghost). The tunnel is also an excellent way to put some distance between Pacman and any ghosts that may be chasing him. The ghosts are forced to travel through the tunnel much more slowly than Pacman. However, it’s very easy to overlook another ghost slipping into the tunnel from the other end, inadvertently trapping Pacman in the middle. So make sure you give a quick glance to the other side before ducking in and escaping your pursuers.  Pacman can also turn corners much faster than the ghosts can, providing another great get-away opportunity. Other suggestion is to practice getting Pacman smoothly around the corners. You will want to start cornering before Pacman actually gets to the corner. It is subtle, but does result in quicker cornering. Other thing you should do is to save the power pellets for later - the ghosts are more likely to clump together and chase Pacman later in the stage, so catching them will be easier at the end of the stage. When you are close to some kind of bonuses – eat them, but remember not to risk your life to collect the lower value fruit if you want to make it to those really valuable bonus items.

These are the most important tips you should know Pacman. Now, what are you waiting for? Try yourself!

Arcade:

• Ms. Pacman (1982) - The rules remains the same, but there is one huge change – instead of Pacman there is a lady, Ms. Pacman (she’s wearing a red bow). Other changes include different patterns of moving for the ghosts, appearing of the items not only in the center of the board and faster game play.

• Pac & Pal (1983) – the rarest title of Pacman. New items, shooting capability – two main changes. Before collecting the items, Pacman has to unclock them (not just eat them, like in the previous games). There is also one extra character: Miru, a green female ghost. She is also trying to get the items, either to give them to Pacman, or take it into the ghost house. This might help in clearing the level, however, and if she brings the last one there, it automatically clears the level. In order to get the maximum points from the items, Pacman had to eat them first, or intercept them from Miru.

• Pacman & Chomp Chomp (1983) In this sequel, Pacman’s assistant instead of Miru is Chomp Chomp, his dog.

• Pac-Land (1984) This game is a departure from the classic idea of a maze game. Pac-Land is the first arcade video game released by the Namco company. The goal is to get the fairy to the Fairyland in Pacman’s hat, avoiding ghosts and other hitches, and after that return to Pacman’s house. The layout of Pac-Land is similar to Super Mario Brothers.

• Pac-Mania (1987)- a return to the maze game genre, but in 3D graphics. New features: Pacman is able to jump (just like the two new ghosts – orange and grey one) and an extra purple ghost – Sue, which task is to follow him. There names of the new ghosts are: Funky and Spunky (or Common and Grey Common in japanese version).

Console:

• Pac-Attack (1993) – It is a puzzle game. The plot is similar to Tetris - your task is to combine falling blocks in lines in order to make them vanish and eat ghosts. The blocks consisting of Ghosts, Blocks, Pacman, and one Fairy to the ground.

• Pacman 2: The New Adventures (1994) – Instead of eating dots, Pacman’s goal is to help his family and, finally, fight with a monster. Of course, like in other spin-offs, there are inseparable ghosts, which could frighten our hero or leave an useful items accidentally. The player can only follow Pacman and guide him only indirectly, by putting his attention to specific items or characters.

• Pac-In-Time (1995) – Pacman was thrown away in time by Ghost Witch and now his trapped in his past. Your task is to help him pass all of the 10 levels and make his return possible. Another part with adventurous elements (Pacman has to climb, swim and fight with the ghosts or animals characteristic for the level), but, like in the old versions, you have to collect Pac-pellets (instead of dots) to finish the board. An interesting feature is ability to access completed levels via passwords that are given every five levels.

• Pacman World (1999) – First of the three-piece trylogy. It’s a 3D based game for Playstation. In this part, Pacman has to free his family and friends from the hands of Orson, his enemy. The kidnapper was Toc-Man, an evil robot, Pacman’s alter ego made by Orson. To defeat his enemy and free his friends, Pacman has to gain dots, fruits and fight with the ghosts in every one of the different worlds.

• Pacman: Adventures in Time (2000) – Instead of typical maze, there is a 3D one. Your goal remains the same – you have to eat dots (in this version: yellow balls) and bonuses, and avoid the ghosts. A nowelty is the possibility to play with friends (multiplayer option).

• Pacman Fever (2002) – A party video game. You can choose which Pacman character you want to be. The object is to finish the board before others. You can race in three different levels, such as Medieval, Space and Tropical.

• Pacman World Rally (2006) –it’s a kart racer with Pacman and many others from Namco’s catalog of classic characters. The game consist of 15 race. Of course, your task is to ride as quickly as you can and gain yellow balls. When you raise a lot of them, your kart transformes into a special Super Pac-Mobile machine and your opponents wil turn on to blue (like in the classical Pacman). After ran over them, their will be temporarily expelled from the competition.

• Pacman Championship Edition (2007) - is the latest Pacman game, very similar to the first version of Pacman. You have to guide Pacman through the maze, and your object is to gain points by: eating dots, power pellets and bonus fruit, and, of course, pay attention to the ghosts by avoiding them. The novelty is that every maze is divided into two halves and the ghost behavior is a little bit modificated (Pinky is more dangerous nowadays than in the good old times).

There is also a lot of non-official Pacman-clones, such as Hangly-man, Caterpillar Pacman or Piranha (it’s not hard to imagine how the main character looks like  Those are arcade clones, made in 80’ mainly. The majority of recent clones are humorous variations of the original idea. Among them there are such gems like Funny Strip, where Mr and Ms. are naked, or Twinkle, where Pacman is orange and wears sunglasses. Due to popularity of Pacman, well-known companies became interested in making money on similar products to the original conception. Only need to remain i.a. a game exposed by Comedy Central on the official site of South Park, which idea is to move Eric Cartman through the maze and eat “Cheasy Poofs” instead of dots, or a similar application with Fred Flinston collecting rocks (distributed by Cartoon Network).