Pac-Man Strategy Guide: Ghost Patterns and High Score Tips

Efficient maze navigation is essential for high scores in Pac-Man. Learn the maze layout until you can navigate without thinking. Know which corridors are dead ends and which connect to multiple paths. Always plan an escape route before entering a corridor. If a ghost appears, you should already know which direction to turn. The tunnels on the sides of the maze are your best escape tool - ghosts slow down when traveling through them. Focus on clearing one quadrant at a time rather than zigzagging across the maze. This is more efficient and reduces the chance of being cornered.

Each ghost in Pac-Man has a distinct personality and movement pattern. Understanding these patterns is the single most important skill for high-level play. The four ghosts - Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde - each target Pac-Man differently. Blinky (red) directly chases Pac-Man's current position. Pinky (pink) targets four tiles ahead of Pac-Man's facing direction. Inky (cyan) uses both Blinky's position and Pac-Man's position to calculate his target. Clyde (orange) chases when far away but retreats to his corner when close. During "scatter" mode, each ghost retreats to their assigned corner. These scatter periods happen at fixed intervals and give you safe windows to clear dots.

Power pellets are your primary offensive tool. When eaten, all ghosts turn blue and become vulnerable for a short time. Timing these power pellets correctly can net you thousands of bonus points. The ghost point values double with each ghost eaten during a single power pellet: 200, 400, 800, 1600. Eating all four ghosts in one power pellet activation earns you 3,100 points. Save power pellets for when multiple ghosts are nearby. Don't waste them on a single ghost. Wait until at least 2-3 ghosts are clustered together before activating.

Maximizing your score requires strategic eating. Dots are worth 10 points each, power pellets are 50 points, and fruit bonuses range from 100 to 5,000 points depending on the level. Ghost points are the highest scoring opportunity. The fruit appears twice per level below the ghost house. Learn the timing and position to grab it for bonus points. In early levels, fruit is worth 100-300 points, but later levels offer cherries worth up to 5,000 points. On level 256, a famous bug causes the screen to split, making the level unbeatable. The theoretical maximum score before this point is 3,333,360 points.