Pacman
Clear the maze, dodge four ghosts, eat the power pills. Made by Dale Harvey.
Press N to start a new game. Arrow keys to steer. P to pause, S for sound.
How to play
- Eat every pellet in the maze to finish the level.
- Four ghosts chase you. Contact costs a life.
- The four large pills turn the ghosts blue for a few seconds so you can eat them.
- Eating ghosts in one power pill window scores double each time.
Playing it better
- Learn the corners. Turning tight lets you keep speed while a ghost overshoots.
- Save a power pill until two or three ghosts are near, then take them all in one window.
- The tunnels at the sides slow ghosts down, so they are a reliable escape route.
- Clear the awkward corners of the maze early while the ghosts are still slow.
About Pacman
This is Dale Harvey’s open source HTML5 maze chase, one of the earliest browser rewrites of the arcade classic and released to the public domain. It runs on a canvas with no plugin, keeps the original four ghost behaviour and the power pill mechanic, and starts as soon as you press N.
What makes the format last is that the ghosts are not random. Each one has its own pursuit logic, so the maze becomes a readable pattern rather than a lottery. Once you notice that one ghost heads for where you are and another heads for where you are going, you stop running away and start steering them, which is the difference between clearing two levels and clearing ten.
The power pills are the scoring engine. Eating one turns the ghosts vulnerable for a short window, and each ghost you catch in a single window is worth more than the last. Good players do not eat a pill the moment they reach it. They loop the area, gather two or three ghosts behind them, and then take the pill so the whole group is available at once.
The maze also has geography worth knowing. Side tunnels slow the ghosts more than they slow you, corners can be cut, and the pellets in tight dead ends are much harder to collect once the level speeds up, so clearing those first is a habit that pays. Runs are short, the controls are four keys and there is nothing to install.
Advertisement
Common questions
How do I start?+
Press the N key. The game waits on its title screen until you do.
Is this an official release?+
No. It is an independent open source clone by Dale Harvey, released under the WTFPL, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by any rights holder of the original arcade game.
Does it have sound?+
Yes, and you can toggle it with the S key.
Do the ghosts get faster?+
They do. Each cleared level raises the pace, which is what eventually ends a run.
