Pac-Man fruit list: every bonus item by level and value
Eight bonus items, fixed by level, appearing twice per board under the ghost house. Here is the exact order, the values, and the timing that lets you plan around them.
The fruit table
| Levels | Item | Points | Two per board |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cherry | 100 | 200 |
| 2 | Strawberry | 300 | 600 |
| 3 to 4 | Orange | 500 | 1,000 |
| 5 to 6 | Apple | 700 | 1,400 |
| 7 to 8 | Melon | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| 9 to 10 | Galaxian flagship | 2,000 | 4,000 |
| 11 to 12 | Bell | 3,000 | 6,000 |
| 13 and beyond | Key | 5,000 | 10,000 |
Two of the "fruits" are not fruit at all. The Galaxian flagship is a cameo from Namco's 1979 shooter, and the bell and key are generic bonus icons. Players still call all eight "fruit".
When fruit appears
Each board spawns a bonus item twice: once after the 70th dot is eaten and again after the 170th. It appears directly below the ghost house, in the corridor where Pac-Man starts, and stays for roughly 9 to 10 seconds (the exact time is slightly randomised). If Pac-Man dies while a fruit is on screen it disappears, and that appearance is lost; the counters do not reset, so the second fruit still comes at 170 dots.
Why the key matters so much
From level 13 every board offers 10,000 points in fruit, four times the value of all its dots and pellets combined. A perfect game across 255 boards collects 2,459,600 points from fruit, nearly three quarters of the total of 3,333,360 explained in the 3333360 perfect score. That is why top players plan their routes around being near the centre of the maze at dot 70 and dot 170, a habit described in pacman strategy tips.
The fruit counter at the bottom of the screen
The row of icons in the bottom-right corner shows the fruit for the current level and the previous six, acting as a level indicator. The routine that draws it is the cause of the level 256 glitch: when the level counter overflows to zero it tries to draw 256 icons, overwriting half the maze. The full explanation is in pacman split screen level.
Fruit in Ms. Pac-Man and later games
- Ms. Pac-Man: fruit enters through a tunnel and bounces around the maze. The set is cherry, strawberry, orange, pretzel (700), apple, pear (1,000) and banana (5,000), chosen at random from level 8.
- Super Pac-Man: fruit replaces dots entirely; you eat items locked behind doors.
- Championship Edition: eating the fruit swaps in a new half-maze instead of just scoring.
- Pac-Man 256: fruit is replaced by power-ups such as lasers and freeze.
The side-by-side mechanics are in pacman and ms pacman compared. For a scoring context across the whole game, read pacman point values table, and to practise collecting bonuses under pressure try the games on the visit mr pacman online, where a mint bonus chip plays the same role.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the order of fruit in Pac-Man?
Cherry, strawberry, orange, apple, melon, Galaxian, bell, key.
How much is the cherry worth in Pac-Man?
100 points, on level 1 only.
What is the key worth in Pac-Man?
5,000 points, on every level from 13 onward.
How many times does fruit appear per level?
Twice: after 70 dots and after 170 dots.
Where does the fruit appear?
Directly below the ghost house, at Pac-Man's starting position.