What Happens When You Reach The Pac-Man Kill Screen At Level 256?

Thanks to a software bug called the "Pac-Man kill screen," the only way to beat the game Pac-Man is to do it blindfolded.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Are you a retro gamer or a child of the 1980s? If so, then you’ve probably played a game or two of Pac-Man. But did you ever beat it? Probably not. The classic coin-op arcade game has a bug that prevents it from being completely finished. This bug, known as the “Pac-Man kill screen” occurs at the 256th board, where an overflow in the 8-bit byte distinct values occurs. As a result, the right half of the screen is replaced by a series of garbled symbols and letters making it unplayable… unless you know the secret.

The Pac-Man Kill Screen

To complete the final level of Pac-Man, you need to trap 3 of the 4 ghosts against the right edge of the screen and then collect the 9 hidden dots hidden on the jumbled half of the screen (see YouTube video above).