Pac Pac-Man Patterns: For those who want to win sans excitement

No, I’m not against the divulging of video gaming’s best kept secrets. I’ve fiddled with the programming of too many games to start climbing a gaming moral high ground now. I’m here to talk about one of the best guides on how to finish Pac-Man with the help of visual patterns.

Talk about complete. This guide, written by KiLLerCloWn for mameworld, is probably the best guide on not only to play Pac-Man but also how to finish it—sort of. Why sort of? Because Level 256 is the infamous split screen lockup gamers have been talking about since the 255 barrier was broken.

Going back to our topic, KiLLerCloWn shows us five patterns that you “will have to learn to theoretically be able to play Pac-Man until it stalls at Level 255.”

Here’s KiLLerCloWn’s breakdown of the patterns (named after the bonus fruit players collect at the bottom right of the screen with every level):

The Cherry Pattern: This pattern works for Level 1 only and is fairly freestyle in how you choose to end it. The ghosts at this point are so slow and the duration of the power pill effect so long that you can virtually do as you like after following the first few corners of the pattern safely.

The Mid Fruit Pattern: Levels 2 – 4. A slight variation of the Cherry Pattern but still open for freestyling it at the end of the pattern, there is no immediate danger still if you completed the first half of the maze correctly.

The Apple Pattern: Level 5 rewards you with an apple and up to and including level 16 this pattern will work just fine.

The Fifth Key Pattern: Levels 17, 19 and 20 are the mazes where the power pills will not turn the monsters blue anymore. They are rewarded with a key, as all levels after and including level 13 are. You will need a slight variation of the Apple Pattern to safely evade them and to complete the maze.

The Ninth Key Pattern: From level 21 on not only will the power pills not allow you to eat the ghosts, your Pac-Man also noticeably slows down. On a straight line he will be caught in pure speed. Since you have to level 255 and about 5 hours to go this might actually be a good thing as it is less tiring than the frantic pace of the previous levels. But it also means that if you make a mistake it is extremely hard to recover and often means you will lose at least two lives and the end of your game.

Sadly, I never made it to Level 255 despite knowing these patterns by heart as a child. How did you fare?

Pac-Death: The infamous split screen level.