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).
How To Play Pac-Man Today
We have 2 online versions of Pac-Man here on MethodShop. The original arcade version of Pac-Man (with the glitch) and the special 30th Anniversary version that Google made in 2010. If you have a few minutes, go have some fun.
Playable online Pac-Man Games:
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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do you know someone who has beaten Pac-Man?