That noise that big yellow grin...It can only be PacMan. Originally developed by Namco and licensed for distribution within the USA and europe by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular in the United States from its original release to the present day, PacMan is considered a classics, an absolute icon of 1980s popular culture and synominous of retro games. After its release, the game became a worldwide phenomenon selling a shedload of merchandise and inspiring an animated tv series and even a Top 40 pop single!

When PacMan was released, most arcade video games in America were primarily space shoot em ups such as Space Invaders and Defender or Asteroids and Pong. PacMan succeeded by creating a new genre and appealing to both males and females. PacMan is often credited with being a landmark in video arcade game history, and is one of the most famous arcade games of all time. The character also appears in more than 30 officially licensed games and sequels, as well as in numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs.

The player controls Pac-Man through a maze, eating dots. When all dots are eaten, Pac-Man is taken to the next stage. Four ghosts (known to most gamers as Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) roam the maze, trying to catch Pac-Man. If a ghost touches Pac-Man, a life is lost. When all lives have been lost, the game ends.

Near the corners of the maze are four larger, flashing dots known as "energizers" or "power pellets", which provide Pac-Man with the temporary ability to eat the ghosts. The ghosts turn deep blue, reverse direction, and usually move more slowly when Pac-Man eats an energizer. When a ghost is eaten, its eyes return to the "ghost pen" where it is regenerated in its normal color. Blue ghosts flash white before they become dangerous again and the amount of time the ghosts remain vulnerable varies from one board to the next, but the time period generally becomes shorter as the game progresses. In later stages, the ghosts do not change colors at all, but still reverse direction when an energizer is eaten.

In addition to dots and energizers, bonus items, usually referred to as fruits (though not all items are fruits) appear near the center of the maze twice per level. These items score extra bonus points when eaten. The items change and bonus values increase throughout the game.

Pac-Man is awarded a single bonus life at 10,000 points by default. DIP switches inside the machine can change the required points or disable the bonus life altogether.

The unique game design inspired game publishers to be innovative rather than conservative, and encouraged them to speculate on game designs that broke from existing genres. Pac-Man introduced an element of humor into video games that designers sought to imitate, and appealed to a wider demographic than the teenage boys who flocked to the action-oriented games.

The Killer List of Videogames lists Pac-Man as the #1 video game of all time on its "Top 10 Most Popular Video games" list. Pac-Man, and other video games of the same general type, are often cited as an identifying cultural experience of Generation X, particularly its older members, sometimes called Baby Busters.

Initially, Pac-Man’s enemies were referred to as "monsters" on the arcade cabinet, but soon became colloquially known as "ghosts." The ghosts are bound by the maze in the same way as Pac-Man, but generally move slightly faster than the player, but they slow down when turning corners and slow down significantly while passing through the tunnels on the sides of the maze. (Pac-Man can pass through these tunnels unhindered.) This is counteracted by the fact that Pac-Man slows down slightly while eating dots, so if a ghost is chasing Pac-Man while he is eating a long chain of dots, he will slowly, but surely be caught. The red ghost speeds up after a certain number of dots are eaten (this occurs earlier in higher levels). The accelerated Blinky is unofficially called "Cruise Elroy", though opinions differ on the origins of this term.