What I Learned from Playing 200 Games of Pac-Man

[Mr. Brow]

So my latest game obsession is Pac-Man.  The mechanics and AI have been analyzed to death all over the internet, but I wanted to dive in and see what it was like to play it... like, a lot.  I detailed some of my adventures with the game in my latest blog entry, with another one forthcoming.  I intentionally chose not to consult any strategy guides before playing so that I would have the opportunity to organically develop my own strategies.

 

Where does this game stand for you among the golden age arcade greats?  Are there any masters here?

 

[mr_me]

Don't like games that play the same pattern every time.

[Mr. Brow]

7 hours ago, mr_me said:

Don't like games that play the same pattern every time.

It’s true that the initial pattern in a given level is repeatable, but as soon as you eat a power pellet the ghost motions gain a random component.

[VectorGamer]

10 hours ago, Mr. Brow said:

Where does this game stand for you among the golden age arcade greats?  Are there any masters here?

Easily in the top 5 arcade games of all time. I still play it today although I prefer to play speedup chip. I'll never forget the first time I played at the roller rink and how all the other kids in line in front of me were gushing about the game. My first impression was that it was very new and not something we've seen before.

[Zoyous]

As a young child, I came down with a sort of fever regarding this game. I've never been particularly good at it, though. I also had the 2600 version of this and I played quite a bit of it. I had an understanding attitude about the technical power disparity between the arcade machine and the 2600, so I wasn't upset about the port (although I did appreciate the improvements in 2600 Ms. Pac-Man) - but needless to say, the home version did nothing to improve my play on the coin-op. So, like a Rubik's cube, it's something that I enjoyed without ever really reaching a greater degree of understanding about it. I did get a book at one point that contained some strategy tips and that helped me out a bit, but for me it was just memorization and didn't really translate into an improved organic learning process. Of the entire series, the ones I've played the most have been Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man: Championship Edition... but the original is so special to me that maybe it would be worth it to try and improve my play.

 

I have enjoyed some recent videos breaking down the ghosts' behaviors, but like you mention in your blog post, that intellectual understanding can quickly go out the window when the pace of the game starts getting fast!

Edited December 2, 2019 by Zoyous

[Ramses]

I have a lot of respect of the game and I like its design ideas, but it's not one of my favorites from the era. There's not much variation, and it gets boring quickly. Ms. Pac-Man on the other hand is a different story. Multiple mazes and mobile bonus items improve things immensely for me.

[Keatah]

Pac-Man may be the universal mascot for ALL videogames and recognized worldwide. But I dislike the game and I suck at it, never ever ever making it past level 7 no matter how hard I try. No matter what strategy I employ.

 

Other games like Missile Command, Assault, Gyruss, now that's completely different. An example of personal success.

[mr_me]

As a kid I had very limited funds to spend at an arcade.  Playing pacman seemed like a waste when there were games where I could fly around, shoot things, drive, climb and jump. 

 

I never spent much time with pacman to develop patterns.  But I had games at home where I did and once I had the patterns set the games were no longer fun.

[Cynicaster]

I appreciate the game but I just utterly suck at it.  On the one hand I have absolutely no desire to rely on patterns to improve my scores, and on the other, I really struggle to get anywhere playing "free style."  It's fun to play once in a while, and it's a game that brings a lot of people together - even non-gamers - but I'm just not interested enough in it to really dig into it.   

 

For the longest time I didn't, but now I strongly prefer Ms. Pac-Man.  Objectively, it's an improvement in almost every way over the original. 

[Mr. Brow]

8 hours ago, mr_me said:

As a kid I had very limited funds to spend at an arcade. 

Yeah, me too, I didn’t play it much as a kid.  I often wondered how the best players could afford to get so good at these games.

[Mr. Brow]

4 hours ago, Cynicaster said:

 On the one hand I have absolutely no desire to rely on patterns to improve my scores... 

Right?  I don’t get how that would be fun. It’s like playing an adventure game with a walkthrough.

[Mr. Brow]

Here are my scores, with more details on my progress in a new blog entry.  Pretty slow improvement, even for an arcade game, but it never seemed to get stale.

[+DamonicFury]

I fulfilled a life-long dream and picked up a Pac-Man arcade game (cabaret size) this fall.  Since then, I've been obsessively playing it, learning the patterns.  Most everyone has an initial distaste for the idea of using patterns, but I recommend giving them a try.  It's actually more challenging than you might expect, as they require you to pre-turn the joystick at every intersection.  This is absolutely necessary, as turning a corner in this way is a split-second faster than the usual way.  (Knowing this is enormously helpful in shaking off a persistent monster on any board!)  Missing a corner or two will usually screw up the pattern.  

 

I don't have any personal interest in scoring a perfect game... while patterns exist for this, they require insane amounts of precision.  Alternately, some players have mastered the art of grouping that can let you eat all the ghosts each time for maximum points, but that takes a great deal of time and patience.  My personal goal is a million points. 

 

You might think that should be easy once you've learned the necessary patterns, but let me tell you, it isn't.  Why?  Because once you reach the 9th key, the game becomes mercilessly difficult.  The energizers no longer turn the monsters blue (this happens a few times before the 9th key as well.)  Your Pac-Man slows down significantly, while the monsters remain viciously fast.  There are, of course, patterns to get you past these screen from the 9th key to screen 255 (which are all exactly the same) but again, you have to execute them perfectly.  And, at least for me, this is damn hard!  I'm using what is generally considered to be the easiest 9th key pattern called "Stacked" and it still requires absolute precision when executing a series of pretty rapid corners.  I'm at the point now that I can usually pull that off roughly 90 percent of the time, but when I mess it up even a tiny bit, the pattern goes to hell and it usually takes 2 lives to finish the board.  So even giving myself a full set of five Pac-Men, you can see how a 10 percent failure rate would cut short my game well short of the million point goal. 

 

I do feel like I'm getting a bit better with regular practice but it's slow going!  I have a high score of around 427,000 points now.  I expect it will take weeks more of practice to achieve that goal.  

[negative1]

On 12/6/2019 at 2:09 PM, DamonicFury said:

 

 

You might think that should be easy once you've learned the necessary patterns, but let me tell you, it isn't.  Why?  Because once you reach the 9th key, the game becomes mercilessly difficult.  The energizers no longer turn the monsters blue (this happens a few times before the 9th key as well.)  Your Pac-Man slows down significantly, while the monsters remain viciously fast.  There are, of course, patterns to get you past these screen from the 9th key to screen 255 (which are all exactly the same) but again, you have to execute them perfectly.  And, at least for me, this is damn hard!  I'm using what is generally considered to be the easiest 9th key pattern called "Stacked" and it still requires absolute precision when executing a series of pretty rapid corners.  I'm at the point now that I can usually pull that off roughly 90 percent of the time, but when I mess it up even a tiny bit, the pattern goes to hell and it usually takes 2 lives to finish the board.  So even giving myself a full set of five Pac-Men, you can see how a 10 percent failure rate would cut short my game well short of the million point goal. 

 

I do feel like I'm getting a bit better with regular practice but it's slow going!  I have a high score of around 427,000 points now.  I expect it will take weeks more of practice to achieve that goal.  

keep at it, and good luck with the progress.

 

i disagree though, for me, the game becomes a lot easier on the 9th key, because of the slowdown, and

you have a lot more time to do your movements. at least to me.

 

the patterns that keep the ghosts far away are boring and safe, but who cares, if it works, use it.

i don't like flashy patterns.

 

anyways, i use a modified stacked pattern, because the ending of the normal one, kept getting me killed.

 

although the original stacked worked well for me on the xbox 360 : Ranked 1  - 7.1 million (they fixed the killscreen, i got past it twice)

i also have the high scores in namco museum on the xbox 360,

pc steam (not using hacks), and xbox one namco arcade - 3.3 million [not a perfect score, it has a fixed killscreen option also].

 

I bought an arcade 1up pac-man, and killscreened that and pac-man plus, i've never gotten a perfect game, but if i really

tried, someday i would learn how to group.

 

ms pac-man is what i concentrate on for the last few years.

 

later

-1

[negative1]

On 12/2/2019 at 6:20 AM, Mr. Brow said:

It’s true that the initial pattern in a given level is repeatable, but as soon as you eat a power pellet the ghost motions gain a random component.

Very nice writeup, and interesting to read.

However, this is not quite true.

 

Just as there are patterns, even when playing the ghosts will still respond the same

way after eating an energizer, and that can be patterned also. Which is what

'grouping' does, in collecting all 4 ghosts together. Or you can pattern what

an individual ghost will do also.

 

later

-1

[Mr. Brow]

1 hour ago, negative1 said:

Very nice writeup, and interesting to read.

However, this is not quite true.

 

Just as there are patterns, even when playing the ghosts will still respond the same

way after eating an energizer, and that can be patterned also. Which is what

'grouping' does, in collecting all 4 ghosts together. Or you can pattern what

an individual ghost will do also.

 

later

-1

The sources I have read say that the movements of the ghosts in frightened mode (at intersections, anyway) is determined by a random number generator, and that seems consistent with my experience.  Or are you just saying that their post-pellet movements are predictable until they hit the first intersection?  

[negative1]

3 hours ago, Mr. Brow said:

The sources I have read say that the movements of the ghosts in frightened mode (at intersections, anyway) is determined by a random number generator, and that seems consistent with my experience.  Or are you just saying that their post-pellet movements are predictable until they hit the first intersection?  

yes. to the 2nd part.

 

later

-1

Edited December 25, 2019 by negative1

[Mr. Brow]

Finally got around to writing up a full review of the game, which you can read here.  

 

Also, I can't stop staring at this polar projection of one of my playthroughs. It connects the ends of the wrap-around tunnel at the bottom of the image (you can see Pac and the ghosts disappear briefly when they go through it).  It looks like the game is on the inside surface of a tube.

 

[NE146]

It makes me laugh people saying they don't like the "patterns" in Pac-Man as I wonder if they really had that attitude in 1981 or during the true heyday of Pac-Man. Because the whole mystique of the game that everyone wanted to get in on was FIGURING OUT THE PATTERNS  , and making better ones or whatever.  You watched people in the arcades and tried to copy them. You had entire books and magazines published about patterns, and you debated which were the best. You eventually even had "stunt" patterns where cool things (like passing through ghosts) happened, etc. 

 

Anyway it quickly became moot as newer revisions changed things up anyway (arcade owners and the publishers had no interest in people playing games too long), and as stated, by the time Ms. Pacman came out the randomization factor was in full force.  

 

Anyway.. speaking of the 9th key. Here's the scan of Joystik's "last word on the 9th key" article.. however I'm sure much much better ones have been devised over the past near 40 years.

 

 

Someone actually uploaded a youtube video of the last one.. no sound though unfortunately.

 

[negative1]

2 hours ago, NE146 said:

 

 

Anyway it quickly became moot as newer revisions changed things up anyway (arcade owners and the publishers had no interest in people playing games too long), and as stated, by the time Ms. Pacman came out the randomization factor was in full force.  

 

 

I'm not sure why i keep hearing this, or people repeating it again and again.

Ms. Pac-man only has a random start for a few seconds of each of the 4 boards.

 

The ghost behavior is exactly the same as pac-man, they didn't change any of the logic at all.

 

In fact, once you get the timing down after the first few seconds, you can group, and basically

there are patterns for ms pac-man. These are even more effective after level 21, when you 

get into the slow boards for junior and the chase ones. These work up until the killscreen.

 

later

-1

[mr_me]

3 hours ago, NE146 said:

It makes me laugh people saying they don't like the "patterns" in Pac-Man as I wonder if they really had that attitude in 1981 or during the true heyday of Pac-Man.

Yes, this was my attitude in the early 1980s.  There were so many other games I'd rather spend my arcade quarters.  Pacman was the pop-music of video games.

 

-----------

Are there really patterns for Ms pacman, or are they grouping strategies to maximize points?

[NE146]

4 hours ago, negative1 said:

 

I'm not sure why i keep hearing this, or people repeating it again and again.

Ms. Pac-man only has a random start for a few seconds of each of the 4 boards.

 

The ghost behavior is exactly the same as pac-man, they didn't change any of the logic at all.

 

In fact, once you get the timing down after the first few seconds, you can group, and basically

there are patterns for ms pac-man. These are even more effective after level 21, when you 

get into the slow boards for junior and the chase ones. These work up until the killscreen.

 

later

-1

You're wrong, and right. Yes of course the behavior is the same. However that random start in the beginning makes all the difference in the world. On one hand you're talking the "general" patterns in MsPac, on the other hand we're talking the strict "patterns" of Pac-Man. That's the difference. There isn't a definitive singular repeatable pattern on any board based on your movements. Yes a skilled player can use the same grouping and directional-leading techniques based upon individual ghost behavior, and see the general pattern per board after the initial randomization.. but a strict 100% repeatable "pattern" where all 4 ghosts move exactly to the same spot depending on your movement like Pac-Man? None. 

 

That said, actually I believe only 2 of the 4 ghosts (red & pink?) have their initial movement randomized.  The other 2 do in fact have a strict pattern.. which made this trick on the 2nd board possible where you pass through a ghost.

 

[Mr. Brow]

4 hours ago, mr_me said:

Yes, this was my attitude in the early 1980s.  There were so many other games I'd rather spend my arcade quarters.  Pacman was the pop-music of video games.

I didn’t spend a lot of time at the arcade as a kid but I remember having a similar attitude about the game.  

 

Just like with pop music, though, sometimes I go back and discover there was something to the fascination after all. Maybe someday I’ll actually go back and watch Titanic... and like it.  

 

Not today, though.

[negative1]

7 hours ago, NE146 said:

You're wrong, and right. Yes of course the behavior is the same. However that random start in the beginning makes all the difference in the world. On one hand you're talking the "general" patterns in MsPac, on the other hand we're talking the strict "patterns" of Pac-Man. That's the difference. There isn't a definitive singular repeatable pattern on any board based on your movements. Yes a skilled player can use the same grouping and directional-leading techniques based upon individual ghost behavior, and see the general pattern per board after the initial randomization.. but a strict 100% repeatable "pattern" where all 4 ghosts move exactly to the same spot depending on your movement like Pac-Man? None. 

 

That said, actually I believe only 2 of the 4 ghosts (red & pink?) have their initial movement randomized.  The other 2 do in fact have a strict pattern.. which made this trick on the 2nd board possible where you pass through a ghost.

 

you're right and wrong also.

 

all 4 ghosts do random things on the next 3 boards after, the 4 chase,

and the 4 junior boards at the beginning of the levels.

 

later

-1

[+DamonicFury]

On 12/25/2019 at 10:23 AM, negative1 said:

keep at it, and good luck with the progress.

 

i disagree though, for me, the game becomes a lot easier on the 9th key, because of the slowdown, and

you have a lot more time to do your movements. at least to me.

 

the patterns that keep the ghosts far away are boring and safe, but who cares, if it works, use it.

i don't like flashy patterns.

 

anyways, i use a modified stacked pattern, because the ending of the normal one, kept getting me killed.

Naturally, people are going to have different experiences with these things.  I’m still having a devil of a time with Stacked... the timing required in the first 30 seconds or so of it is just too exacting for me it seems.  It works for me most of the time... but ”most of the time” just isn’t good enough for a million points!
 

Perhaps another pattern might work better for me... thank you for posting those magazine patterns, NE146!  Perhaps the “very forgiving” 2A pattern will be what I need...

 

...except that it doesn’t seem to actually work at all!  Still, going to keep trying other 9th key patterns, hopefully I can find one that works well for me.