Description
A yellow, pie-shaped character named Pac-Man runs along inside a maze, eating dots as it avoids four ghosts. Each ghost has its own unique personality and gobbling one of the four super dots makes Pac-Man invincible to the ghosts for a given period of time. Each maze has its own unique bonus fruit or object with bonus points increasing as the game progresses.
Cabinet Information
These cabinets will sometimes be "speckled" with pink or blue paint on top of the yellow coat. Also because of its high popularity, most cabinets tend to have wear marks where players would rest the hand they were not using to control the game. The plastic edging on the cabinets was originally orange. The sides show Pac-Man trying to run away from a ghost with his mouth wide open. The kick-panel displays the same artwork.
Cheats, Tricks and Bugs
It is possible to follow a pattern on each maze that will always clear the screen without being caught by the ghosts.
It is possible to hide forever in one place on the screen. Here is how: where Pac-Man starts there is a "T"-like wall above him. If you go up to the right-most part of the "T" from the bottom without any ghosts seeing you go in, they will never enter that spot. Also, do not move; stay still, facing up.

Conversion
This can be converted to Pac-Man Plus, Ms. Pac-Man, or Jr. Pac-Man by switching the marquee, control panel overlay, monitor bezel, kick-panel art (if necessary), and PCB.
Game Introduction
The four ghosts, which your character must avoid, each have a different color, name, nickname and personality. The pink ghost is Speedy, nicknamed "Pinky"; he's fast. The red ghost is Shadow, nicknamed "Blinky"; he's always behind you and it's hard to shake him. The light blue ghost is Bashful, nicknamed "Inky"; he's terribly shy and will actually run away from you. And the orange ghost is Pokey, nicknamed "Clyde"; he will try his best to get you, but he is slow.
Game Play
Pac-Man must clear the maze of all 240 dots and all four energizers to proceed to the next level of difficulty. As Pac-Man eats the dots, the ghosts chase him around the maze and if Pac-Man collides with one of the ghosts, he is a goner. He can eat one of the energizers to turn the ghosts dark blue, which make them edible for him. But after Pac-Man has eaten any of the ghosts, their eyes will return to the pen in the middle of the maze where they will each regenerate into their former selves and return to chase him again.
Occasionally, a bonus fruit or prize will temporarily appear in the middle of the maze below the ghosts' pen. Pac-Man can eat those bonus items to receive extra points. Also, there is an escape tunnel in the sides of the maze which Pac-Man can use to get away from any of the ghosts that may be pursuing him.

After the maze has been cleared of all 240 dots and all four energizers, the entire sequence will begin again with increased difficulty. Between every two, three, or four completions, there are musical, animated intermissions to amuse the player while he or she waits for the next challenge to begin. However, these intermissions are not seen anymore once the 18th board (6th key) is reached.

Everything Pac-Man eats has different point values. The dots are 10 points each, the energizers are 50 points each. The dark blue ghosts are respectively 200, 400, 800 and 1600 points. There are different point values for every bonus fruit or prize that is eaten: cherries, 100 points; strawberry, 300 points; peach, 500 points; apple, 700 points; grapes, 1000 points; Galaxian, 2000 points; bell, 3000 points; and key, 5000 points. You will also get a bonus Pac-Man at 10,000 points (switch selectable...can also be 15,000 points, 20,000 points, or no bonus).

Hacks
Brakman - Replaces the ghosts with Braks and changes the maze. It also changes the ready text to "YOWZA!"
Clyde's Revenge - Lets you play as a ghost.
DizzyGhost - Lets you play as a ghost. It also changes the maze.
I'm Going Berzerk - Chicken! Eat all the dots like a robot!
Mr. Pac Man - Uses the original Pac Man character while playing Ms. Pac Man.
Pac-Kong - Uses the original Pac-Man graphics in a Donkey Kong game.
Pac-Man 2600 - Changes the maze and graphics to make them look more like those from the Atari 2600.
Pop-Man - A six IC update that changed the main character to Popeye's head. Featured a disappearing maze and six warp tunnels. This hack could also be used in Pac-Man Plus.
Puckman Renaissance - Changes the graphics to make them look better.
Snowy Day Pac-Man - Has a Christmas theme.
Pika-Man - Changes Pac-Man to Pikachu's head, changes the maze, and changes the ghosts to Haunter. It also changes the "Ready" message to "PIKACHU!"
Miscellaneous
LICENSOR: Namco
SPINOFF: Kick Man (Pac-Man and the ghosts appear in this game)
WWW: http://www.zxscreens.i12.com/zxscreens/pac_man_arcade.htm
WWW: http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play2sta4.htm
Play a JAVA emulated version of the game by visiting http://web.utanet.at/nkehrer/JPacman.html

Technical
The game uses a Z80 microprocessor and a Namco 3-channel PSG for sounds. Troubleshooting manuals can be found at http://www.erinet.com/jamesm/tech/tech.htm. The 'Pacman SUPER ABC' kit replaces the chips at 6E
Trivia
The single most popular game of all time. The game spawned several lines of merchandise and a Saturday morning animated series on ABC that lasted two seasons (from 1982 to 1984). There was even a prime-time animated Christmas special called Christmas Comes To Pac-Land which was first broadcasted on ABC sometime in December 1982. Actor Marty Ingels supplied the voice for the main character in both of these animated shows and he was even given a genuine Pac-Man arcade game by the people who hired him.
The game's hero was born from a pan of pizza with one slice missing, as Toru Iwatani (Namco), tried to think of a character for his new game. He gazed down at the pizza, then it dawned on him ... a circle with a wedge missing for a mouth ... and so, Pac-Man was born.

The game was, at first, called Puckman. It was later changed due to the fact that the middle section of the 'P' could be scratched away making the name offensive to people.

The American rights were to go to Atari originally, but they turned them down, saying the game was too easy.

A game called "Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary" was released for the PlayStation Game Console in late 1999. In this 3-D game, Pac-Man has to save his friends and family from Toc-Man (a robotic Pac-Man from Ghost Island, whose name is Namco's original name, Namcot, spelled backwards). The friends and family are here as follows: Pooka (from Dig Dug), Chomp-Chomp the Dog (from Pac-Land), Professor Pac (from Professor Pac-Man), Baby Pac (from Baby Pac-Man and Pac-Land), Junior Pac (from Jr. Pac-Man and Pac-Land), and Ms. Pac-Man (from Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Land). Pac-Man has learned some new moves to save his family like swimming, revving and more. This release also contains the original Pac-Man game.