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Pac-Man for Atari 8-bit Computers FAQ

by BHodges

Version  1.0
Created  11/16/03

This document Copyright 2003 by Brian Hodges.  This FAQ is not to be posted
without explicit permission by me.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

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Table of Contents

I.     Introduction
II.    Pac-Man Strategy School
III.   Getting Started
IV.    Basic Gameplay
        A.  Playing the Game
        B.  Scoring
V.     Mazes
        A.  Maze Map
        B.  Maze Information Chart
VI.    Goblin Guide
        A.  Shadow / Blinky
        B.  Speedy / Pinky
        C.  Bashful / Inky
        D.  Pokey / Clyde
VII.   Advanced Strategies
VIII.  My Top Score
IX.    Game Review
X.     Version History
XI.    Contact Information

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I.  Introduction

This is a FAQ for the Atari 8-bit computer game Pac-Man.  It contains
information on how to play the game and a mini-review, as well as some nuggets
from the instruction book.

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II.  Pac-Man Strategy School

The following is taken from the instruction book.  It is sort of like a
background story and a tip guide rolled into one.  At the time I thought it
was pretty cool (then again I was only four), but besides the cartoon, it is
the closest thing I have ever seen to a background story for Pac-Man.

Picture:  There are over a dozen Pac-Men and one Pac-Woman (NOT Ms. Pac-Man)
crowded around a miniature of the maze.  On the maze are models of Pac-Man and
the goblins.  One of the cadets is moving the Pac-Man around while the two
instructors give tips and encouragement.

Dialogue:

"At ease, Cadets.  Welcome to Pac-Man strategy school.  Cadets, I'll be honest.
Your chances aren't good.  Some of you won't be coming back after today.  So
listen up and you'll be a lot safer."

"When they leave the goblin house, the goblins go to a particular corner.  They
search for you with a pattern.  Learn their patterns.  And keep your eyes
peeled after the second maze; the patterns change and the goblins search for
you harder and faster."

"Once the goblins get your scent, you better get moving.  You can gain a bit on
a goblin by turning a corner.  Use the exits to gain a bit or evade them.  Try
to make them lose your scent by changing direction rapidly."

"If they are onto you, stop munching and run down an empty corridor.  You go
20% slower when you're munching dots."

"The survivors tell me it's tough to get away from the goblins.  But stay far
enough away from them for 20 seconds, and they'll give up and go back to the
goblin house.  Better watch out, though.  When you're munching the last ten
dots, the goblins team up and sniff you out like bloodhounds."

"One last word, Cadets.  Use your energizers wisely.  Lure all the goblins into
an energizer, then gobble'em all down.  Gobbling the first one is worth a
measly 200 points, but the fourth adds a whopping 1,600 points to your score."

"Be careful with your energizers after the second maze: the goblins stay blue
for less and less time."

"Good gobbling and good luck."

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III.  Getting Started

You can change the starting level of the game by pressing the Option key.
There are 8 in all with cherry being the easiest and the key being the hardest.

Press the Select key to toggle between a one or two player game.

Press the Start key or the joystick button to start the game.

Press the Spacebar during the game to pause.

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IV.  Basic Gameplay

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A.  Playing the Game

The object of the game is to eat all of the dots in the maze while avoiding the
goblins.  You start the game with three lives, you lose a life when you are
caught by a goblin.  You get a new life if you score 10,000 points.

In the corners of the maze are large dots.  These are called Energizer Dots.
When Pac-Man eats one of these, he becomes "energized" for a short time.
During this time the goblins turn blue and you can eat them.  If you manage to
eat a goblin, its eyes will travel back to the goblin house and it will
regenerate.  The ghosts will start to flash when your energized time is almost
up.  When they turn back to their normal colors, you can no longer eat them.

After every 85 dots you eat, a bonus nugget will appear in the center of the
screen.  You have eight seconds to eat this nugget before it disappears.  The
number of points you get for eating the nugget depends on its type (see chart in
Mazes section).

On the right and left sides of the maze are the exits.  When you enter through
one, you will come out on the opposite side.  Just make sure that a goblin
isn't coming through the other side when you enter.

Pac-Man CANNOT enter the goblin house.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B.  Scoring

Each dot you munch is worth 10 points.  Energizer dots are worth 50 points.
During any single energized time, the first goblin you eat is worth 200 points,
the second 400, the third 800, and the fourth 1600.  The points received from
a bonus nugget depend on its type (see chart in Mazes section).

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V.  Mazes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A.  Maze Map

All of the mazes in Pac-Man look the same:

    #######################################################################
    # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ### . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #
    # . ######### . ############### . ### . ############### . ######### . #
    # * ######### . ############### . ### . ############### . ######### * #
    # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #
    # . ######### . ##### . ####################### . ##### . ######### . #
    # . . . . . . . ##### . . . . . . ### . . . . . . ##### . . . . . . . #
    ############# . ###############   ###   ############### . #############
    ############# . #####              B              ##### . #############
    ############# . #####   #########-----#########   ##### . #############
    L             .         #   I      P      C   #         .             R
    ############# . #####   #######################   ##### . #############
    ############# . #####              N              ##### . #############
    ############# . #####   #######################   ##### . #############
    # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ### . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #
    # .########## . ############### . ### . ############### . ######### . #
    # * . . . ### . . . . . . . . . .  P  . . . . . . . . . . ### . . . * #
    ####### . ### . ##### . ####################### . ##### . ### . #######
    # . . . . . . . ##### . . . . . . ### . . . . . . ##### . . . . . . . #
    # . ############################. ### . ########################### . #
    # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #
    #######################################################################

Key

# = Wall
- = Door to goblin house
= Dot
* = Energizer Dot
L = Left exit
R = Right exit
N = Bonus Nugget
P = Pac-Man's starting position
B = Blinky's starting position
P = Pinky's starting position
C = Clyde's starting position


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Maze Information Chart

Here is the maze information chart from the back of the Pac-man instruction
book:

----------------------------------------------------------------
|     |      |       |         |        |Other   |Goblins|Blue   |
|Maze |Bonus |Nugget |Pac-Man's|Blinky's|Goblin's|Are    |Goblins|
|#    |Nugget|Value  |Speed    |Speed   |Speed   |Blue   |Flash  |
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    1|Cherry|    100|       50|      40|      40|      4|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    2|Straw-|    300|       50|      40|      40|      3|      5|
|     |berry |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    3|Orange|    500|       50|      50|      50|      2|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    4|Orange|    500|       60|      50|      50|      1|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    5| Apple|    700|       70|      70|      60|      0|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    6| Apple|    700|       70|      70|      60|      3|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    7| Lemon|   1000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    8| Lemon|   1000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|    9| Atari|   2000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      3|
|     |  Logo|       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   10| Atari|   2000|       70|      70|      60|      3|      5|
|     |  Logo|       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   11|  Bell|   3000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   12|  Bell|   3000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      3|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   13|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      3|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   14|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      1|      3|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   15|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      5|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   16|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      3|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   17|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      0|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   18|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      3|
|     |      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
|-----|------|-------|---------|--------|--------|-------|-------|
|   19|   Key|   5000|       70|      70|      60|      0|      0|
| & up|      |       |         |        |        |    sec|  times|
----------------------------------------------------------------

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VI.  Goblin Guide

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A.  Shadow / Blinky

Blinky is red.  Blinky is the fastest goblin, he starts outside the door to the
goblin house.  He will always start out by heading left, then up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B.  Speedy / Pinky

Pinky is pink.  Pinky is the second goblin to leave the goblin house.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C.  Bashful / Inky

Inky is green.  Inky is the third goblin to leave the goblin house.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D.  Pokey / Clyde

Clyde is orange.  Clyde is the last goblin to leave the goblin house.

*******************************************************************************
VII.  Advanced Strategies

-  Clear out the bottom row of dots first since this is the easiest section of
  the maze to become trapped in.

-  Try clearing the maze in quarters, focused around the energizers.  Once you
  eat the energizer finish eating the remaining dots in the quarter.

-  Instead of looking at Pac-man, keep your eyes on the goblin house and use
  your peripheral vision to keep track of the goblins.  Once you get used to
  it, this makes evading them much easier.

-  If you get cornered by two goblins, don't give up, try to stay between them
  and alive as long as possible.  Sometimes they will suddenly change direction
  and give you an opening to escape.

-  Make sure that when eating two energizer dots in succession that any goblins
  that you ate on the first dot have regenerated before eating the second.
  Otherwise they will not be affected by the energizer and you won't have a
  chance at the 1200 point bonus.

-  Make good use of the exits.  You move faster through them than the goblins.
  Lure all four towards the exit on one side, then go through.  You will now
  be free to eat dots on the other side.

-  According to the instruction book, if you stay far enough away from the
  goblins for 20 seconds they will give up and go back to the goblin house.
  I have been playing this game for over twenty years and have never once had
  this happen, but I guess you can still try.

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VIII.  My Top Score

My top score is 77,770 points.

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IX.  Game Review

This is an excellent port of the arcade game, much better than the one for the
2600.  I would definitely recommend that anyone with an Atari 8-bit computer
get this game.

Pros

-  Fun and fast-paced.
-  Good controls.
-  High replay value.  I have been playing this game since 1983 and I still love
  it.
-  Overall an excellent port of the arcade game.

Cons

-  The only thing keeping this from being a perfect port of the arcade game are
  the goblins' eyes.  In the arcade version the goblins would look in the
  direction they were going to go next so you could anticipate their movements
  better.

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X.  Version History

1.0   11/16/03  Created FAQ.

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XI.  Contact Information

You can contact me at [email protected]

I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts
you have for improving it.  Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything.

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