Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade game released by Midway in the US with Namco, the sequel to the original Pac-Man.
Quick Facts
| Title | Ms. Pac-Man |
| Year | 1982 |
| Manufacturer | Midway (US)/Namco |
| Designer(s) | General Computer Corporation, Steve Golson |
| Genre | Maze |
| Hardware | Ran on the Namco Pac-Man arcade system board. Publicly debuted February 3, 1982, at Castle Park Entertainment Center in Sherman Oaks, California. |
| Ports | 11 ports, including Atari 2600, Commodore 64, and Apple II — see Ports section |
History
Ms. Pac-Man began life as an unlicensed hack of the original Pac-Man built by a small team at General Computer Corporation, a firm founded by MIT students including Steve Golson. Midway, which held the US arcade rights to Pac-Man, licensed the project rather than fight it, folding the fan-made upgrade into an official release. The game reached the public on February 3, 1982, debuting at a press event at the Castle Park Entertainment Center in Sherman Oaks, California. It ran on the same Namco Pac-Man arcade hardware as its predecessor, keeping conversion costs low for operators who already owned original cabinets.
The sequel introduced four distinct mazes, moving dots, intermission cartoons, and smarter ghost behavior, addressing complaints that the original game’s patterns became too predictable. These changes, combined with a new female protagonist, broadened the arcade audience and helped the cabinet outsell its predecessor in North America. By 1988 roughly 125,000 arcade units had been sold, making it one of the best-selling coin-operated games of all time. In 2022 the Strong National Museum of Play inducted Ms. Pac-Man into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, citing its role in expanding who arcades were designed for.
Gameplay
Players guide Ms. Pac-Man through an enclosed maze, clearing every pellet while four colored ghosts, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue, hunt her down. Contact with a ghost costs a life unless she has just eaten one of four flashing power pellets stationed in the maze corners; for a short window afterward the ghosts turn vulnerable and can be eaten for escalating bonus points before they respawn and resume the chase. Bonus fruit and other items drift into the maze on set paths rather than sitting still, adding a moving target to track alongside pellet collection. A joystick is the only control, moving Ms. Pac-Man in four directions along the maze corridors.
- Pellet-clearing objective across four rotating maze layouts
- Power pellets that let Ms. Pac-Man eat ghosts for temporary bonus points
- Moving bonus items instead of a single stationary bonus fruit
- Ghost AI tuned to be less predictable than the original Pac-Man
Cabinet & Hardware
Ms. Pac-Man runs on the Namco Pac-Man arcade system board, the same platform used for the original game, which let operators upgrade existing Pac-Man cabinets with a conversion kit rather than buy new hardware outright. That reuse of the underlying board is a large part of why the game spread through arcades so quickly after its February 1982 debut at the Castle Park Entertainment Center in Sherman Oaks, California.
Ports & Re-releases
| Platform | Year |
|---|---|
| Atari 2600 | 1983 |
| Commodore 64 | 1984 |
| Apple II | 1984 |
| NES | 1990 |
| Genesis/Mega Drive | 1991 |
| Game Boy | 1993 |
| Super NES | 1996 |
| Game Boy Color | 1999 |
| Xbox 360 XBLA | 2007 |
| iOS | 2008 |
| Android | 2010 |
Ms. Pac-Man has also appeared in numerous console compilations over the years, including entries in the Namco Museum and Pac-Man Museum series, keeping the original arcade version available on modern hardware without operators needing an original cabinet. Check the Atari 2600 and NES platform pages for details on those specific ports.
Where to Play Legally Today
- Official compilation releases such as Namco Museum and Pac-Man Museum+ on current-generation consoles and PC
- MAME, run only with legally owned ROM dumps from a cabinet or licensed source you own
- Arcade museums and retro arcade venues that keep a working Ms. Pac-Man cabinet on their floor
Collector Value
Original Ms. Pac-Man cabinets remain some of the most common upright arcade machines on the secondary market, a legacy of the roughly 125,000 units sold by 1988, though well-preserved examples with unmodified marquees and side art command a premium over worn or heavily converted units. Standalone PCBs also circulate independently of cabinets, appealing to collectors who already own a compatible Pac-Man-style enclosure and want to swap boards. Home ports on cartridge-based systems like the Atari 2600 and NES are generally inexpensive and easy to find, making them a low-cost entry point for collectors who are not ready to take on a full-size cabinet.
FAQs
Who made Ms. Pac-Man?
Ms. Pac-Man was designed by General Computer Corporation, with Steve Golson among the credited designers, and was manufactured for US arcades by Midway in partnership with Namco.
What year did Ms. Pac-Man come out?
Ms. Pac-Man came out in 1982, publicly debuting on February 3 of that year at the Castle Park Entertainment Center in Sherman Oaks, California.
What genre is Ms. Pac-Man?
Ms. Pac-Man is a maze arcade game, in which the player clears pellets from enclosed mazes while avoiding four colored ghosts.
What hardware did Ms. Pac-Man run on?
Ms. Pac-Man ran on the Namco Pac-Man arcade system board, the same hardware used by the original Pac-Man cabinet.
Has Ms. Pac-Man been ported to home consoles?
Yes, Ms. Pac-Man has been ported to at least eleven platforms since 1983, including the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Apple II, NES, Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Boy, Super NES, Game Boy Color, Xbox 360 XBLA, iOS, and Android.
See also the related Pac-Man arcade page, and browse the Golden Age of Arcade Games hub for more classic maze titles.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms._Pac-Man
- https://www.museumofplay.org/press-release/world-video-game-hall-of-fame-inductees-for-2022-announced/
Facts on this page last verified 2026-07-15.