Play the Original Pac-Man Online for Free

The original Pac-Man game is available online. No longer do you have to trek down to an arcade when you can pull it up right now in your browser without ever leaving your home.

We like this version of the game because it's super simple to play and even has a high score list you can aim to get on.

Below is some more information like how to access the site, the overall purpose of Pac-Man if you're not already familiar, and what the game controls are for playing.

Pac-Man Websites

There are lots of Pac-Man sites, like Flash Pac-Man. The name has been carried over from a time when it used Flash, but it's actually an HTML5 version, meaning that it should work in most web browsers.

Google's Pacman Doodle is another place you can play. It has a large gameplay area without any other distractions.

There's also Pacman.live with variations like Ms Pac-Man and Cookie-Man.

How to Play Flash Pac-Man

We'll use Flash Pac-Man in our example. Select anywhere in the game window to start.

Pac-Man moves forward automatically in whichever way he's facing, so you don't need to worry about controlling his speed or having him stop moving while you're playing. But you can control the direction he moves.

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard so that he moves around the path according to your choices. How you do this is self-explanatory: the up arrow moves him up, down moves him down, right is right, and left is left. There's a hidden pause option you can toggle with the p key, and the volume symbol in the game controls audio playback.

Your progress is tracked automatically. Your personal best score is listed under HIGH SCORE.

What's the Goal?

The point of the game is to avoid the ghosts, because if they touch you, you'll instantly lose a life, and you only have three. To avoid dying, make your way through a path that avoids the ghosts, and be sure not to back yourself into a corner!

However, there's also a secondary goal at the same time: see how many points you can collect, which is why you should try your best to run into as many dots as possible. Each dot that you eat increases your score.

Another way to get points is to eat the cherries and the flashing dots. The flashing dots not only give you points but also turn the ghosts into your prey, meaning you can now eat the ghosts to get points and to eliminate them from the game. When you eat one of these flashing dots, the ghosts will change their color to blue and start to run away from you. This means you should immediately change course and try to eat them before they turn back to their original color and make their way after you.

Other Retro Games

If you love the nostalgia you get from playing Pac-Man, you might also like Falling Sand and Zork.