Pacman Game

Pac-Man needs no introduction: Toru Iwatani's 1980 arcade classic for Namco invented the maze-chase genre. This build is a faithful browser recreation of it, written in HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery by independent developer Lucio Panepinto and first released in 2015 — not an official Namco release, but a careful fan-made port of the original loop.

The loop is the one that's held up for over 40 years: clear every small dot from the maze while four ghosts hunt you down. Grab one of the four flashing power pellets in the maze's corners to turn the ghosts blue and vulnerable for a short window, and use that window to eat them for bonus points before they respawn and come after you again. Miss a turn or get cornered and it's game over — route-planning matters as much as reflexes.

Controls

• Arrow keys: move up, down, left, right
• P: pause and resume
• On touchscreens, on-screen directional buttons appear in place of the arrow keys.

Tips

• Learn the maze layout rather than reacting turn by turn — knowing which corridor you're heading into beats fast reflexes here.
• Hold a power pellet in reserve when you can. The vulnerable window is short, so it does the most good when a ghost is already right on top of you.
• The side tunnels that wrap around the edges of the maze are a reliable way to break off a direct chase.
• This build keeps the ghosts' original arcade nicknames on the title screen — Blinky ("Shadow"), Pinky ("Speedy"), Inky ("Bashful") and Clyde ("Pokey") — a nice touch for anyone who grew up with the cabinet.

A quick, score-chasing session rather than a long one — pick it up for a few minutes, or keep going and try to beat your own high score.