A familiar sound rings out of an old arcade machine. It is the sound of Pac Man kicking ass and taking names. It is such a very sweet sound to those who have been playing Pac-Man for the last 28 years. It is a sound that brings joy to those who have been playing Pac-Man competitively, whether it is over Xbox Live on Pac-Man Championship Edition or at your local arcade where the top score will reign supreme over all of the other players on that Ms.Pac-Man machine with that junky 4-way joystick. We constantly crush these four ghosts who oppose Pac-Man and his never ending quest to devour every single dot in his small and encompassing world.



So what purpose do these ghosts serve besides contributing to a player's high score? They are the ones who make Pac-Man who he is. Without them, Pac-Man's world would just be a boring romp through a pointless maze, fulfilling his need to eat everything in his path. Who are the enemies that haunt the halls of Pac-Man's maze? Let us take a quick look at the cast.




Blinky the chasing red colored ghost
This guy is notorious for constantly chasing Pac-Man so much that his nickname in the Japanese version is Chaser. His pattern is pretty much to follow Pac-Man as closely as possible and get him to run into one of his other buddies such as Pinky.



Pinky the ambushing pink colored ghost
Pinky has probably been the number one cause of all ruined high score attempts in Pac-Man. His tactic is to speed around corners and surprise Pac-Man while he is being chased by everyone else in the maze. So if you see three different ghosts chasing you, be on the lookout for an attempt at an ambush at the next corner.



Inky, the capricious cyan colored ghost
If there is a ghost that seems like it will randomly follow Pac-Man to the ends of the maze and then suddenly lose all interest the next minute, chances are that you have met Inky and his fickle, and unpredictable ways.



Clyde, the stupid orange colored ghost
Every group has a slow guy in it. In Pac-Man, that guy is Clyde, While not completely oblivious to Pac-Man's existence on the map, sometimes his actions don't make any sense to the rest of the gang such as letting Pac-Man chase him without a power pill.



With all of these characters that have clashing personalities, you have to wonder how they all work together so well. Like any other team based activity, if everyone does their part, the act of achieving a goal, such as catching Pac-Man and scaring him to death, is totally possible. With that in mind, you can see how important the ghosts in Pac-Man are. They are more than just a score multiplier; they are the characters that have shaped the game that we still play 28 years later and without them, there would be nothing.