Pacman is a classic game that has been around for over 30 years. It is one of those games that continue to be popular in its original low level graphics form despite advances in technology. I personally think the reason for this is nostalgia. Admittedly, it is fun to play but I loose interest after a couple levels. Whatever the reason no one can deny its popularity. Even the giant Google featured a flash version of Pacman on their homepage to celebrate its 30 year anniversary. How does the game work? The player controls Pacman through a maze, eating pac-dots. When all dots are eaten, Pacman is taken to the next stage, between some stages one of four intermission animations plays. In addition to dots and power pellets, bonus items, usually in the kind of fruit appear near the middle of the maze. These things score additional bonus points when eaten. The items change and bonus values increase throughout the game. The enemies in the game roam the maze, trying to catch Pacman. If an enemy touches Pacman, a life is lost. When all lives have been lost, the game ends and you will have to start from level 1 all over again. No saving your spot in this ancient game. Pacman is awarded a single bonus life at 10,000 points by default—DIP switches inside the machine can change the necessary points or disable the bonus life altogether. Near the corners of the maze are three larger, flashing dots known as power pellets that provide Pacman with the temporary ability to eat the enemies. The enemies turn deep blue, reverse direction and usually move more slowly. When an enemy is eaten, its eyes stay and return to the middle box where it is regenerated in its normal color and become dangerous again. Blue enemies flash white just before they become hazardous again and the amount of time the enemies stay vulnerable varies from one stage to the next, but the time period usually becomes shorter as the game progresses. In later stages, the enemies do not change colors at all, but still reverse direction when a power pellet is eaten. The enemies in Pacman are often referred to as "monsters", "ghosts" or "ghost monsters” and, believe it or not, actually have names (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde). Despite the seemingly random nature of the enemies, their movements are strictly deterministic, which players have used to their advantage. In an interview, creator Toru Iwatani said that he had designed each enemy with its own distinct character in order to keep the game from becoming impossibly difficult or boring to play. The behaviors of each enemy have been exactly determined by reverse-engineering the game.
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