The player navigatesPac-Manthrough amazewith no dead ends. The maze is filled with dots, known asPac-Dots, and also includes four roving multi-colored ghosts: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. There is also a passageway from the left side of the screen to the right side, fourPower Pelletsspread out between quadrants, and bonus fruits that appear in each level as points are accumulated.
The objective of the game is to accumulate as many points as possible by collecting dots, fruits, and eating blue ghosts, while normally avoiding the four ghosts. When all of the dots in a stage are eaten, that stage is completed, and the player will advance to the next one. Between some stages, one of threeintermissionanimations plays.[6]The four ghosts roam the maze and chase Pac-Man. If any of the ghosts touches Pac-Man, a life is lost. When all lives have been lost, thegame is over. The player begins with three lives, butDIP switchesin the machine can change the number of starting lives to one, two, or five. The player will receive one extra life bonus after obtaining 10,000 points. The number of points needed for a bonus life can be changed to 15,000 or 20,000, or disabled altogether.