Free Games How to play Pac-Man
Pac-Man is the most famous arcade game ever made, and it is wonderfully simple. You guide Pac-Man — the round yellow character — around a maze, eating all the little dots. Four ghosts chase you around the maze; if one catches you, you lose a life, and you start with three.
- Eat every dot in the maze to clear the level.
- The big flashing pills in the corners are power pills. Eat one and the ghosts turn blue and run away — for a few seconds you can chase and eat them for bonus points.
- Avoid the ghosts the rest of the time. If one touches you, you lose a life.
Controls — keyboard or touch
You can play whichever way is comfortable:
- On a computer: use the four arrow keys to steer. Press N to start, P to pause, and S for sound on or off.
- On a tablet or phone: tap the four big yellow arrow buttons under the board to steer, and use the Start, Pause and Sound buttons.
Pac-Man keeps moving in the last direction you chose, so you only need to tap a turn at each corner — no need to hold a button down.
A livelier game than our puzzles
Most games on this site are calm and untimed. Pac-Man is different — it is a real arcade game, so the ghosts move and there is a bit more hurry. There is still no sign-up, no pop-ups, and you can pause any time. If you would rather take it slow, try Sudoku, Mahjong Solitaire, or Word Search — or browse all of our free games.
About this version
This is an open-source HTML5 version of Pac-Man (daleharvey/pacman), used under its permissive licence and hosted here so it loads fast, plays offline-friendly, and shows no third-party adverts inside the game.