Pac-Man
Pac-Man, originally titled Puck Man in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was released in Japan on May 22, 1980 and by Midway Manufacturing in North America in October 1980. The player controls Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called "Power Pellets" causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue and vulnerable, allowing Pac-Man to eat the ghosts for bonus points.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1980
- Developer
- Namco
- Platforms
- 12 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 22 May 1980 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Namco |
| Publisher | Namco, Midway Games |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, iOS, Android, Arcade, iPad, Android Tablet, PlayStation Portable, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| Genres | maze video game |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q173626, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Pac-Man? How long to beat it
Total play time for Pac-Man is about 4.6 hours to do everything, and around 0.8 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 0.8h | 74 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 2.3h | 17 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 4.6h | 28 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Pac-Man sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Pac-Man lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 28ahead of 0% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 87ahead of 100% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Pac-Man
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Pac-Man appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Pac-Man qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Pac-Man
What platforms is Pac-Man on?
Pac-Man is available on Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, iOS, Android, Arcade, iPad, Android Tablet, PlayStation Portable, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One. It first released in 1980.
Who made Pac-Man?
Pac-Man was developed by Namco and published by Namco, Midway Games.
How long does it take to beat Pac-Man?
about 0.8 hours for the main story, 2.3 hours with the main extras, 4.6 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.