Pac-Man glossary: the terms players, historians and programmers use

Thirty definitions, alphabetical, each in a sentence or two, with links to the guide that explains the idea in depth.

By Syed Hamid · Updated 2026-10-04 · 534 words

A to C

Attract mode: the demo loop a cabinet shows between games, including the ghost introductions with their nicknames.
Blinky: the red ghost; the direct chaser. See blinky pinky inky and clyde.
Board: one maze cleared of dots; synonymous with level or round.
Chase mode: the ghost state in which each targets a tile related to Pac-Man. See how pacman ghosts chase you.
Cornering: pressing the joystick toward a turn before reaching it so Pac-Man cuts the corner and gains distance on ghosts.
Cruise Elroy: Blinky's late-board speed boost when few dots remain.

Dot: the small 10-point pellet; 240 per board.
Energizer: Namco's term for the power pellet. See how power pellets work.
Eyes: the state of an eaten ghost returning to the house.
Frightened mode: the blue, edible, randomly moving ghost state after a power pellet.
Fruit: the bonus item that appears twice per board. See pacman bonus fruit values.
Ghost house: the central pen where ghosts start and regenerate. See the original pacman maze.
Ghost chain: the 200-400-800-1,600 sequence from eating all four ghosts on one pellet.

Intermission: the three short cutscenes shown after boards 2, 5, 9, 13 and 17.
Kill screen: board 256, where the maze is corrupted and the game cannot continue. See pacman level 256 glitch.
Level group: a range of levels sharing speed and timer settings, such as 5 to 20.
No-up zone: four corridor segments where ghosts cannot turn upward.
Overflow bug: the arithmetic error that shifts Pinky's and Inky's targets left when Pac-Man faces up.
Pattern: a memorised route exploiting deterministic ghost movement. See pacman tips for higher scores.
Perfect game: a run scoring 3,333,360. See pacman perfect score.
Power pellet: one of four large dots that trigger frightened mode.
Puck Man: the original Japanese title. See origin of the pacman name.

Rolling the score: passing 999,990 so the six-digit display wraps to zero.
Scatter mode: the ghost state in which each heads for its own corner.
Split screen: another name for the kill screen.
Target tile: the maze tile a ghost is currently steering toward.
Tunnel: the side passages connecting left and right edges, where ghosts slow down.
Twin Galaxies: the registry that has adjudicated arcade records since 1981. See pacman high score records.
Waka-waka: the English nickname for the eating sound effect.

Terms specific to this site's own games, such as drones and power orbs, are explained on the play pages of the mr pacman free maze games, and quick answers to common questions are in the common pacman questions answered.

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Board 256, where an overflow corrupts the right half of the maze and the game cannot continue.

Blinky's speed boost when only a small number of dots remain on the board.

Namco's name for the power pellet, the large dot that lets Pac-Man eat ghosts.

Turning early by holding the joystick toward the next turn so Pac-Man rounds the corner faster than the ghosts.