Pac-Man is a 1980 maze arcade game by Namco in Japan and Midway in the US, one of the defining titles of the golden age of arcade games.
Quick Facts
| Title | Pac-Man |
| Year | 1980 |
| Manufacturer | Namco (Japan) / Midway (US) |
| Designer(s) | Toru Iwatani |
| Genre | Maze game |
| Hardware | Single Z80A processor at 3.072 MHz with 16KB ROM and 3KB RAM. Arcade cabinet featured a 90-degree clockwise rotated monitor. |
| Ports | 7 ports, including Atari 2600, NES/Famicom, and Game Boy — see Ports section |
History
Namco designer Toru Iwatani led development of Pac-Man beginning in 1979, aiming to build an arcade game that could draw in players who found the era’s shooters unwelcoming. The now-famous character shape is widely described as inspired by a pizza missing a slice, and the English title itself traces to the Japanese word “paku-paku,” an onomatopoeia for the sound of eating, according to the Strong National Museum of Play. Namco released the finished game in Japan in May 1980, and Midway brought it to North American arcades that same year, running it on a Z80A-based board with 16KB of ROM and 3KB of RAM behind a monitor mounted sideways in the cabinet.
The game’s approachable, nonviolent design turned it into a genuine mainstream phenomenon rather than just another coin-op hit. Pac-Man is credited as the first original gaming mascot character and effectively established the maze-game genre that later titles like Ms. Pac-Man and Dig Dug would build on. Licensed merchandise, a Saturday-morning cartoon, and endless home ports followed over the following decades. The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Pac-Man into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2015, citing its role in turning video games into a mass cultural phenomenon. By 2009, surveys found 94 percent of Americans recognized the character, and the franchise as a whole had generated more than $14 billion in revenue by 2016.
Gameplay
Players steer Pac-Man through a single enclosed maze, clearing every dot on the screen while four ghosts, each with its own distinct movement pattern, try to catch him. Touching a ghost normally costs a life, but four power pellets placed in the maze’s corners briefly turn the tables: after eating one, Pac-Man can chase down and eat the ghosts themselves for escalating bonus points before they recover and resume hunting. Occasional bonus fruit appears near the center of the maze for extra points. A single joystick is the only control, moving Pac-Man up, down, left, or right along the maze corridors, and each cleared level increases the speed and aggression of the ghosts.
- Dot-clearing objective across a single fixed maze layout
- Four ghosts with distinct, individually programmed behavior patterns
- Power pellets that let Pac-Man eat ghosts for temporary bonus points
- Difficulty that escalates with each completed level
Cabinet & Hardware
Pac-Man’s arcade board is built around a single Z80A processor running at 3.072 MHz, backed by 16KB of ROM and just 3KB of RAM, modest specifications even by early-1980s standards that Namco’s engineers used efficiently to drive the maze, ghost AI, and sound. The upright cabinet mounted its monitor rotated 90 degrees clockwise, a layout choice that gave the maze a taller playing field better suited to vertical corridors than a standard landscape screen.
Ports & Re-releases
| Platform | Year |
|---|---|
| Atari 2600 | 1982 |
| NES/Famicom | 1984 |
| Game Boy | 1990 |
| Mobile phones | 2001 |
| Xbox 360 | 2006 |
| iOS | 2009 |
| Nintendo Switch | 2021 |
Pac-Man has remained continuously available through official channels, including Nintendo Switch Online’s NES app, Arcade Archives re-releases, and long-running Namco Museum and Pac-Man Museum+ compilations, keeping the original arcade version accessible without an original cabinet. See the Atari 2600, NES/Famicom, and Game Boy 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
- The Arcade Archives version of Pac-Man on Nintendo Switch
- 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 Pac-Man cabinet on their floor
Collector Value
Original Pac-Man cabinets are among the most widely recognized upright arcade machines on the collector market, and surviving units with intact factory marquees and side art tend to command a clear premium over cabinets that have been repainted or converted to run other games. Standalone Pac-Man PCBs also trade separately from cabinets for collectors restoring a compatible enclosure. Home ports on systems like the Atari 2600, NES, and Game Boy are common and inexpensive, making them an accessible entry point for collectors not ready to take on a full-size cabinet.
FAQs
Who made Pac-Man?
Pac-Man was designed by Toru Iwatani and manufactured by Namco in Japan, with Midway handling manufacturing and distribution in the United States.
What year did Pac-Man come out?
Pac-Man came out in 1980, released by Namco and brought to US arcades that same year by Midway.
What genre is Pac-Man?
Pac-Man is a maze game, in which the player clears dots from a single enclosed maze while avoiding four ghosts with distinct behavior patterns.
What hardware did Pac-Man run on?
Pac-Man ran on a single Z80A processor at 3.072 MHz with 16KB of ROM and 3KB of RAM, inside a cabinet with its monitor rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
Has Pac-Man been ported to home consoles?
Yes, Pac-Man has been ported to at least seven platforms since 1982, including the Atari 2600, NES/Famicom, Game Boy, mobile phones, Xbox 360, iOS, and Nintendo Switch.
See also the related Ms. Pac-Man arcade page, and browse the Golden Age of Arcade Games hub for more classic maze titles.
Sources
Facts on this page last verified 2026-07-15.