How Do the Ghosts in Pac-Man Decide Where to Go?

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In this video:
enemies in video game history, thanks in part to their surprisingly difficult to predict movements which make the game a constant challenge for new and seasoned players alike. However, as it turns out, the ghost’s movements are defined by a deceptively simple set of algorithms thought up by the game’s designer, Toru Iwatani.
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Sources:
www.gamasutra.com/view/feature...
gameinternals.com/post/2072558...
www.webpacman.com/ghosts.html
www.destructoid.com/blinky-ink...
games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged...
www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pa...
Image Credit:
www.flickr.com/photos/methods...
www.flickr.com/photos/geraldf...
pixabay.com/ru/%D0%BF%D1%80%D...
www.flickr.com/photos/gammama...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_M...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_M...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_M...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pa...
i.ytimg.com/vi/XgTaPJRa4PE/hq...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man...
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[@TodayIFoundOut]

If you enjoyed that TIFO video then check out this video- BrainFood Podcast Episode 4: The Origin of Pong + Interview with Game Designers the Coles: kzbin.info/www/bejne/goLagZ5urNF1lac

[@knavenformed9436]

Bill Michel's stuff can be taken with a big ass grain of salt. Dude has been busted and speculated for cheating many-a times.

[@DerpMuse]

just like he says he never uses MAME or splices....

[@joelackers5104]

He been banned from twin galaxies and he is having his world records taken off him

[@ninetails6218]

Hoping someone would bring this up, damn bitch didn’t deserve anything for lying for so many years

[@DeathlordSlavik]

Except it wasn't actual cheating it was from using an emulator back when no one cared about altering the hardware the game play itself was exactly the same and it gave no actual advantages then recently everyone freaked out about it my guess is someone involved in the so called "investigation" didn't like him for personal reasons and used their position of power to get back at him.

[@darienbowers8157]

There are a slew of videos on KZbin already proving that he was a huge cheat and abused his position as a Twin Galaxies ref to lie about scores, but I'll bite anyway. When someone modifies a game to remove all obstacles and ensure the absolute maximum score possible is achieved and it is still lower than the score you reported achieving, it quickly becomes extremely apparent that you are a lying, self-centred, pitiful excuse for a human being and that you are not above cheating the system to feel good about yourself and make yourself a load of fame and/or money.

[@smokeemifugottem2516]

I think the coders of pac man deserve some props still a great game all these years later

[@parttoon8305]

*Coder There was only one programmer.

[@RetroDawn]

Not only Pac-Man, but most games back in those times were programmed by one person. With most games for home computers, even the graphics and sound were often created by the only programmer.

[@AuuuuuuuuuuuA]

Pacman simulates cooperation between npcs better than current games

[@bizarreworld2510]

This video would have been fucking helpful 20 years ago

[@sethgyellins]

Aditya Wath too bad KZbin didn't exist back then

[@Statsy10]

Well, 30 years, but yeah.

[@TheCivildecay]

This is stiill usefull for anyone interested in gamedesign/gamedevelopment

[@adamkelly5478]

Jeff Brailsford almost keep going

[@Irobert1115HD]

they were named acordingly in japan. you can scream at the guy wo translated it.

[@fhuber7507]

In original Pac Man: The ghosts followed a 100% predictable pattern. EXACTLY the same pattern every time you played the same map level. The "random" number generator used a preset "seed" value which ensured you got the same number every time. (not random at all) Some later re-releases (most not official) there is some randomness due to checking a random number generator at each intersection based on the computer clock as the "seed".

[@MrJest2]

Hence "pseudo-random". In reality, all computer based random number generators are "pseudo-random" due to the physics of how electronic silicon processors work. We can "randomize" better now thanks to the increase in speed and power of more modern designs, but the inherent physics limitation remains. It will be interesting to see, if the systems are ever perfected, how quantum computers change this dynamic...

[@workingguy6666]

Where was this video when I needed it in 1984?!

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

The thought police blocked it

[@madscientistshusta]

hidden in George orwells book "1984"

[@amojak]

demonitised i expect

[@garrettallen7427]

Mambo Dave Being blocked by the very watchful eyes of Big Brother

[@wyllomygreene7700]

Mambo Dave Back in the day, you could get a paperback book with all the levels in it, and the path you had to take to pass each one flawlessly

[@StrixyN]

"There are safe zones.... where you will never get caught" - skips telling us where those are. Trollololol!

[@TheOriginalNCDV]

Mike Borthwick The corner of the T section below the ghost house, right hand side. Only works if they don't "see" you going there. And only works on the arcade ROMs.

[@joeisnso7389]

ncdv47 What about the namco museum version of pac man that released on the ps1?(it's basically the original Atari pac-man but with a bunch of other games made from that era re released on the ps1).

[@TheOriginalNCDV]

Joeisn So Not sure as I've never played that version. I've tried a number of ports on PC and mobile, and only ever seen it work on the original arcade versions.

[@joeisnso7389]

ncdv47 You can play it on a ps1 emulator, tho I'm pretty sure the best way is to play the actual game on ps1. Either way, the re released version made alot of game's made by namco before the 90s more easy to find. So if you have a ps1 or ps2 lying around and want to play some good old game's that made history, I recommend the namco museum collection.

[@amyhoard1222]

Yup, guess it's time to google "safe zones in pac man," before i attempt to play again.

[@babyeater2336]

I never knew I wanted to know this

[@cherrydragon3120]

I know right

[@ultrakool]

now you know you never knew it..just so you know it now

[@captainobvious760]

Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka Waka

[@tazzie165]

Captain Awesome Ali hahahahahahahahahahahahahajahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ruckaruckaali sorry just wrecked your day

[@Crashandburn999]

baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka baka

[@jrmac1757]

flocka

[@xramejin]

Sorry, I don't speak Hawaiian

[@tazzie165]

rameme I don't speak Chinese hahahahahahahahahahahahahajahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

[@owenfitzgerald3219]

Watch the King of Kong and see if you think Billy Mitchell is still so great. He was meant to submit a video of a score for the official scoreboard but wouldn't. There was something very spurious about him.

[@phaedrus000]

What are you talking about? He did send in a video of himself setting the score. THAT was the controversy. You can't even remember the facts correctly and you still hate a man you've never met over it.

[@owenfitzgerald3219]

phaedrus000 Who said I hate him? And you accuse me of getting things wrong.

[@brokenwave6125]

Watch that documentary and you will see how much of a piece of shit he is.

[@phaedrus000]

I've seen the same documentary you have. That's my point. Unless you know him personally, you're basing your opinion of him on a collection of footage from one event in his life. Is he arrogant and overly competitive? Yes, but those are two traits that often come hand-in-hand with being one of the best in the world at something. There's no evidence that he cheated. The worst we can say for certain about the guy is that he was an asshole to Steve Wiebe because he believed Steve had cheated. Turned out he was wrong, and Steve didn't cheat. But Billy did have a reason to believe Steve had cheated (the Shildt circuit board). That doesn't make it right, but who among us has never been guilty of a lapse of ethics. The guy just gets demonized more than he deserves.

[@phaedrus000]

Yeah there certainly seems to be a consensus now that he did indeed cheat. I don't have the technical knowledge to be able to tell one way or the other simply from watching the videos of his record runs, so I'm forced to just take people's word for it. When somebody shows me footage of Billy playing DK and tells me they can tell he cheated because x and y, I have no idea if that person actually knows what they are talking about. But I did notice the surge of "Billy is a cheater" videos over the past couple days which leads me to believe that they are probably on to something if that many people are starting to agree. If he cheated, he's a piece of shit and deserves every bad thing that's been said about him. If not, then he gets a worse rep than he should.

[@rionroben9090]

I am actually really impressed by this video, new found respect for early game coders.

[@sparticus214]

rion roben This is basically how all games work but more or less a pattern instead of player determine algorithm or a command is triggered when player is x spaces away on the bit map.

[@R3_dacted0]

This is fairly generic code, to be honest.

[@richardgates7479]

But this was all done with machine code.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@R3_dacted0 So, Um what games have you written that I might have played in 1980?

[@markusTegelane]

Also in tunnels (areas that outrun the screen) ghosts move slower, while pacman moves at a normal speed

[@Bro-cx2jc]

I make CRAZY use of tunnels in the late levels. I always run back and forth outside them until every ghost is congregating to that one spot, then enter it. If I don't let them congregate first, sometimes one or two will be close to the exit tunnel, making it a dangerous move.

[@maisonmargiela4253]

*when will Simon stop whistling*

[@tazzie165]

Kieran Lim hahagagahagavabababahahahahahah

[@thekickingguy94]

Kieran Lim good one

[@madscientistshusta]

it is for told that the world ere the the universe shall be devoid of Simons melody only after ragnarock, however since ragnarock rebirths the world so to is Simons whistling heard again. So never, however their will be brief intermissions between kalpas

[@rparl]

Kieran Lim When he gets his mother's portrait back.

[@alexanders562]

I am yet to hear him whistle; I was considering suing for false advert.

[@CoinOpTV]

luv the arcade classics

[@stormqueen29]

So, this guy is who Adam Sandler wanted to be in Pixels. Somehow, I'd rather watch this guy for two hours instead. I was always awful at video games anyway.

[@NiphanosTheLost]

This guy was played by the short fellow in Pixels. Cheating and all, if the rest of the comments are to be believed.

[@Laki2]

Who is "this guy"?

[@ewan80]

Lakitu Yeah, I also don't get it...

[@TheEvolNemesis]

The guy he's talking about who got all the video game records, Donkey Kong, etcetera... Who it turns out cheated to get some of his high scores... There was a character in the movie Pixels that was supposed to be him, and they included a lot of these real details about the guy (cheater, all-time DK champ, etc...)

[@yittmashups]

Billy Mitchell. When did he cheat?

[@calisahardy4845]

I *love* Pac-Man still have and play today on my 'plug and play, my still working Atari, and on an arcade game at my local laundry matt. 😍

[@thedave7760]

On the arcade there is a pattern you can learn that will guarantee that you clear every frame again and again (arcade version). I learnt it once and it blows everyone away they think you are a Pac god and in effect you are. Kinda gets boring though after a while.

[@Jackcabbit]

Don't like "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"? Try this: Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Clyde Take that Pac-Man for a ride If you touch him, he will die Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Clyde

[@greghuffman3061]

Which ghosts kills the most players?

[@guylee0]

Greg Huffman got to be Blinky (?)

[@VestigialHead]

+Greg Huffman Surely it would be the ghosts in the machine.

[@fuzzyco.3336]

The one with the eyes

[@Ads-yw1wr]

Or the ghost in the shell.

[@gspepe2002]

blinky

[@sheem.2450]

I have a question Mr. Simon!!!!!! I was trying to sesrch it on KZbin, but no one made a video of it. 😪😪😭😭😭 Here is my question: how and why are trains associated with Christmas? Like, who started the toy train around the Christmas tree?? Its just something about trains and christmas. They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

[@ryano.5149]

If you are talking about the United States, You can blame Lionel, American Flyer, and (to a lesser extent) Ives, for that. It was the way they were marketed. Toy trains were the game consoles of their day, and you can bet millions of children asked Santa for them around Christmas time. The 1900's were when the first electric toy trains started to be produced. By the 1950s, toy/model trains and Christmas were basically inseparable....mostly due to heated competition between Lionel and American Flyer, trying to one-up each other. Remember, in 1950, the TV was a brand new piece of technology, and many households didn't have their own until the later part of that decade, and into the 60's. For a good 60 years, toy trains played a major role in entertaining the children of the U.S.

[@fhuber7507]

Lionel started the association of toy trains with Christmas as a sales gimmick.

[@melodieeab]

I would guess (in addition to what has already been said) that it may also have something to do with the US dependence on trains for shipping in the past. I know that poor pioneer children received second hand goods at Christmas time which had been packed in "Mission Barrels" by wealthier folks in the west and sent to frontier churches.

[@gooby8953]

Because polar Express is lit my dude 🔥🔥🔥

[@gooby8953]

Tom Hanks is the best Homeless train man and Train Conducter

[@janedoe3043]

HOW DO YOU NOT REFERENCE THE FACT THAT HE MAY HAVE CHEATED ON DONKEY KONG? The famous and great documentary, King of Kong. That is an amazing bonus fact!

[@kiarakeeper2154]

jane doe this video wasnt about the video game player but rather the video game he played and holds the high score on. Yes Simon brought up other games but that was to make a point as to whom the guy is.

[@phaedrus000]

because it wasn't relevant to this video in any way

[@janedoe3043]

That isn't true at all. If you are listing a world record as fact, but there is dispute on it, you report it. If you don't list this as an information source, you are doing a biased job. That isn't good. I am not saying it is true or not. However, there is a report that some of those records have not been confirmed.

[@phaedrus000]

As far as I recall, Simon didn't mention the Donkey Kong record. He only mentioned the Pac-Man record, which isn't disputed. You just hate Billy because you saw a documentary that painted him in a bad light.

[@Shukulo]

phaedrus000 He did mention the donkey kong high score actually dumbass.

[@crazy8sdrums]

Without watching this video all the way, i can say for sure that it was not AI. The ghosts followed a program. They did exactly the same thing each time all the way through the 13th key level....at which point it became too fast and the pattern breaks down. I could never make it past 13 key level.

Are you saying AI are not programs?

[@crazy8sdrums]

No. Programs are not AI. They do one thing and don't stray from course. A collection of programs, however, can form intelligence of some sort. A neuron does not make for a brain. A few billion of them can.

[@yittmashups]

So how do you respond to when the best players claim to know the levels where they can stand in one spot and never be hit, and do so in live competitions, when they can't do that in other levels? This would be impossible if all paths were pre-routed the same for the entire game.

[@crazy8sdrums]

If Pacman were AI, there could be no maximum points achievable. There is a maximum number of points possible in Pacman. 3,333,360. The ghosts follow a specific set of instructions, not a collection of choices.

[@yittmashups]

It's not AI. It's a coded in set of rules the 4 different ghosts will take, but those rules are set to where the player (or in one case, another ghost) is positioned at a tile. You were seeming to imply, instead, that the ghost traveled the same course, regardless of whatever went on on the tiles, which can be true, but only if you choose the same path through the level, because their rules are set to where you're positioned.

[@GoatTheGoat]

No mention of the ghost's eyes looking in the direction into which they will turn?

[@j.t.eproductions6854]

+Ryan Patterson they just programmed the sprite to change when they turn.

[@GoatTheGoat]

I think you missed my point. I was not talking about how the eyes shift graphically. I was talking about how, the ghosts' eyes look in the direction that they will turn. If you know that, it helps you predict their movement.

[@ironintegral6631]

My favorite video yet. Thanks mate

[@nifralo2752]

Here's how you remember the ghosts names. Blinky is red cause if your eye is sore and red you blink. Inky is blue as ink in pens is blue. Pinky is pink (Einstien) and Clyde is orange cause the orange order marches past the river Clyde.

[@andreacollier7445]

I remember reading that Pac-Man used to be called "Puck-Man" before release. It was changed to Pac-man because they didn't want people vandalizing the arcade machines to spell out something quite inappropriate! lol

[@ditto-w]

*F U C K M A N*

[@neilisbored2177]

These new megaman bosses are weird

[@gigglesigh6022]

Scott Pilgrim much.

[@Huntracony]

Sponsors should be at the start or end, not the middle. Also, 8:04 to skip it.

[@ShaunDreclin]

this

[@jakelowe9674]

You get to watch for free so dont complain its what pays for the video and its to make sure you watch it

[@neilmoulang90]

Thanks

[@FishFind3000]

Thanks

[@Huntracony]

Jake Lowe, I still won't watch it. And don't give me the "it's free so don't complain" crap, I'd agree with you if this was a hobby, it's not. Once it becomes their job I can complain about it all I like, because they don't want people to leave, because they need to earn money. I can complain about excessive ads on television, why not a youtube channel?

[@pikakip3792]

Blinky was called shadow *ALL HAIL SHADOW* *HEROES RISE AGAIN* *OBLITERATING EVERYTHING THATS NOT YOUR FRIEND*

[@SuperMaDBrothers]

Wow. Thanks for putting the ENTIRE WRITTEN SCRIPT on screen. Really helped enhance the video and make it feel less complicated than it had to be!

[@maxis2k]

I kind of figured out these patterns, but it's nice to have someone explain it. I always felt like the game was rather easy because early on I realized the ghosts run away from you at times (what I just learned is "scatter" mode). Which I easily abused to clear most of the small pellets. But then again, everything could be different because I spent almost all my time playing the SNES version of Ms. Pac-Man. For all I know, the coding was different and the game was made easier.

[@emailnolongerinuse3157]

Simon makes me believe that there really are no stupid questions. Of course, I know there are but still....

[@mpmolyneaux]

Hi Simon. Nice video, however, you're slightly incorrect about a couple of things. First, the ghosts do not stop during cornering, but what they do is make perfect 90 degree turns whereas PAC-MAN-if you push the stick before reaching an intersection-actually cuts a small diagonal ergo gaining distance. "Cruise Elroy" is US player slang for what is officially known as "Spurt" mode within Namco. Blinky only switches into this mode based on the number of dots left on the screen. I know all this because Iwatani gave me a copy of the specifications when I worked at Namco. :)

[@RetroDawn]

Great to see someone of your expertise comment here! I noticed the first mistake, but wondered if that was part of it, too. As for the second, are you saying that it was inaccurate when he stated that the number of dots left for switching into Spurt mode lowers as levels increase? Love your Atari work from BITD! Which PAC-MAN games did you work on? The Android Tournaments game you mentioned in you ANTIC interview I believe has been renamed to PAC-MAN, and has apparently been made worse recently (long after you left).

[@GetMeCoding]

Very cool explanation!!! I love the whole thought process behind the ghosts. Now I have to go and play the game for a bit...or hours.

[@musicalneptunian]

I was brought up with Arcade Pacman in the 1980's. There were guide books on how to beat Pacman in the 80's. I read them. They said that Pacman was set up in two ways. [1] the game could have ghosts programmed totally at random. "in that case you are on your own". [2] Pacman otherwise was set up to run the ghosts in EXACTLY the same way every level regardless of what the player did. In that case every level in the book had a solution that you could follow to win.

[@silkwesir1444]

no, you got a little detail wrong. in case [2] the ghosts run EXACTLY the same way every level only if YOU the player also follow a certain pattern. so it's not "regardless of what the player did". those books taught those patterns. if you deviate, the ghosts may/will too.

[@bustertimothy2176]

6:24 "so, how does one achieve this score?" Considering what recently came out about his DK scores, i'd say cheating.

[@Vayalovescupcakes]

But why do Pinky's Inky's and Blinky's names rhyme but Clyde's doesn't? :'(

[@tomleonard830]

He marches to the beat of a different drummer. Plus It's a typical comedy thing to have one thing that does not match a pattern - in this case rhyming nicknames.

[@RandomAmerican3000]

Different father.

[@brokenwave6125]

Also its using the same formula as the 7 Dwarfs. "Doc" being the "Clyde". Santa's reindeer do a variation of that where they all have names describing their personality or attributes (Dancer, Cupid, Blitzen, etc...) expect one is just called "Rudolph". Seemingly he had nothing special about him that stood out so he just got a regular human name. Both of these are way older than Pac-Man but this type of naming of groups started ages before that even. Even in the Bible..."Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego"...

[@jeffeppenbach]

Rule of "There's always gotta be THAT one!"

[@BB.halo_heir]

Random American lol

[@carlmuller8967]

This is all very well; some minor extra info: in chase mode the ghosts will not go up the two passages above the ghost house; the game looks at the screen attributes and some bits (that have no display effect) there are set to disable changing direction in those two locations (blue ghosts can do this; I note the pseudo random number generator is based on the bottom two bits of many bytes throughout the ROM). The ghost collision detection in frightened mode is box to box (hence they cannot escape) but the collision in chase mode is tile to tile, meaning there is a less than 1 in 8 chance that pacman can run straight through a ghost (if they happen to both change tile on the same 60Hz game frame).

[@noyz-anything]

Some fanghosts: (template:) (Shadow/Blinky) (Color: Red) (Target is on Pac-Man constantly) Dreamer/Floaty Color: Grey, slightly transparent if possible Targets 2 tiles in front of themself, unless Pac-Man is within 5 tiles of them, in which case they target Pac-Man. Susceptible to Pinky's upward movement glitch where Pinky herself is susceptible. Rando/Randy Color: the same blue as power pelleted ghosts Just targets randomly whenever he crosses an intersection Antimatter/Cooky Color: Dark orange like a cookie Targets Pac-Man's X and Y inverted, so she's on the exact opposite side of Pac-Man. Be careful with the middle.

[@RazyMon]

They should've named the orange one Kinky....

[@ditto-w]

pls no

[@leviathanpretzel]

OHH! MMMH, UH. POUND ME, MH, HARDER!!!

[@Nick-mh7ve]

Wtf

[@SamplingKid]

In pac man arrangement; There is an orange ghost with glasses called kinky.

[@doublequilI]

Why are so many Christmas songs we still listen to out of post WW2 era? And why were so many written then in the first place?

[@madscientistshusta]

Doublequill Coca-Cola commercialism in general was being pushed hard after ww2 because of the USSR

[@petergray2712]

Well commercialism, and the fact many GIs coming back from years abroad were nostalgic and pining for the comforts of home life.

[@writerpatrick]

Copyright. Christmas.

[@Aeonterbor]

Before WWII there was not really any way to do high quality recordings of music, With the development of Magnetic recording tape in the 1940's we got one of the first Xmas Song's you still hear to this day: Bing Crosby's White Christmas

[@maxis2k]

I think most of the Christmas songs were actually in the Victorian Era. But as for why so many new ones popped up around WWII, it might have to do with Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" becoming one of the best selling songs of all time in 1942. And the musical genre being so popular in the 1930s/1940s.

[@robertlyle6277]

The original PacMan arcade game was not random at all and was predictable. A man we called “PacMan” figured out the sequence and could play as long as he wanted. He was even to reverse his movement directly through a ghost without being “eaten” due to slow response times of processors of that era. I would not believe this if I didn’t actually witness it. If memory serves, “Ms. PacMan” was randomly generated, correcting this flaw.

[@msthalamus2172]

From what I've read elsewhere, it isn't that the ghosts have to stop at corners for a brief time, it's that they must complete the corner as an actual 90 degree angle (moving all the way right before moving up, for example), whereas Pac-Man cuts the corners by proceeding diagonally through them. With enough turns, that can add up to a significant speed advantage. (www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3938/the_pacman_dossier.php in the section on Cornering.)

[@PollyBonanzas]

I identify with Inky and Clyde the most. They've always been my favorite ghosts.

[@yeetandyum3709]

where do inky go? i’m confuesd

[@PoppycockPrincess100]

My question: What function does the little flag on the top of some construction cranes serve if any?

[@jeffeppenbach]

Wind direction, and to a certain amount, strength. A wind from the wrong direction can put a lot of extra torque on the crane, and cause failure.

[@UpcycleElectronics]

It's one more excuse to send an apprentice up there to fix....get up there, the bearings need grease....now I can't see wind direction. The flag is stuck...get up there and fix it grunt...

[@NeilRoy]

There were bugs in one of the ghosts chase algorithms where there did not act as they were supposed to. There was also a rare condition, based on how the game calculated collision where you could literally pass straight through a ghost without dying. It's rare as both the player and the ghost both have to be in the perfect position, on the edge of their respective tiles when they move towards each other so that they end up in each other's tile where they no longer are and no collision is detected. There have been ROMs created which correct these bugs, including ones that correct the level 256 problem. In my Deluxe Pacman 2 game, if you play it on HARD mode, the ghosts will behave like the original arcade game, minus the buggy behaviour.

[@Reebert02]

Five minutes into "Trello" and I'm already loving it! This is the first sponsorship that was actually worth anything. Oh yeah, the video was good too!

[@magicamadeye]

Why is it Inky Pinky Blinky And clyde?

[@thepinkbunnyempire1027]

there's always that one rebel, even when pac-man was released.

[@Viviantoga]

"Clyde"? I think maybe you're talking about "Sue."

[@mrpineapple2938]

Cuz clyde Is a dumbass.

[@leviathanpretzel]

its so pleasing, i think.

[@LeoMidori]

While technically true Sue has been embraced into Namco's Pac-Man canon and is her own distinct character from Clyde. If they both appear in the same media she's usually purple. :3

[@adiramrakhani]

Wow, the complication in a simple game

[@kysier6015]

"Well, that was interesting. I believe that the term "Cruise Elroy" originated with the Bozeman Think Tank. In fact, it was Spencer Ouren who came up with the term. This excerpt from our (now quite old) Ms.PacMan file (and edited by Don Williams in the late 90s) supports this view:"

[@ilyakogan]

Only Simon Whistler can make an episode about a game I almost never play, and I'll still watch it to the end.

[@LaatiMafia]

The maximum level crash isn't actually a bug, but a limit of the 8-bit computer. 2^8 = 256.

[@madthumbs1564]

'The level counter in the original Pac-Man is stored as an 8-bit integer, meaning the highest value it can hold is 255. However, a bug in the game's programming causes the level counter to "roll-over" to 256, resulting in an integer overflow and causing the game to attempt to draw 256 fruit to the screen. The result is the garbled mess on the right side of the maze. ' - pacman.wikia.com/wiki/Map_256_Glitch

[@foxymetroid]

It's not wrong. The game can only properly handle 255 levels thanks to that overflow problem. The glitchy level is 256 because of the game's use of 8-bit integers as well as how computers add numbers.

[@doubledarefan]

Same thing also happens at the end of the movie Wreck-it Ralph.

[@Dhalin]

It's a bug, because of the lack of error handling/prevention. It could have been coded differently to avoid the overflow bug. That makes this an oversight, as the developer did not predict or foresee anybody reaching Lv256 and did not realize/program for it.

[@KuraIthys]

Still a bug. And an 8 bit integer can indeed hold 256 values, but that includes 0. Hence why it tops out at 255 2^8 = 256 remains correct though. You don't have to know assembly to know this stuff anyway. It's obvious in many programming languages. C/C++ will generally default to 32 bit integers on PC... But you can in most cases specify 16 bits, or on most recent systems and compilers, 64 bits. And 8 bit values can also be specified... If you've been a programmer long enough you end up knowing binary numbers pretty well... But assembly does make it more immediately obvious. XD I'm messing around with SNES at the moment... But most of my experience has been with PC's over the years... Well, that and the Atari 800XL I once had. But I didn't do much programming on that thing other than typing code listings out of magazines...

[@Reskamo314]

Scratch your inner ear with a finger at a steady pace and open and close your mouth while doing so. Waka waka waka

[@thesmalltrooperjames4376]

Cool

[@MouseGoat]

lol tanks XD i can go eat som dots now!

[@randysmith7094]

There are also 4 paths the ghosts will not follow Pac Man through in chase mode. They are: Up through the two paths directly above the ghost house, and up along the two paths besides the "T" shape just below the ghost house. They will also always exit the ghost house to the left unless the mode changes to scatter as one leaves the house, then it will turn right.

[@lionbryce10101]

I was told Inky and Blinky chase behind, Pinky goes in front, and clide needs to lay off the beer

[@johniyahalmostdaily9359]

Crazy

[@nitori_kawashiro]

Wait, i just found this channel and have a question: Is this the person from 'The Bitter IT Guy'

[@galaxysprinkles1573]

Could you please do a video about how your videos are created (the researching process, planning out the video, does Simon read on a screen or learn the script by heart, etccc) and call it "Today I Found Out 'Today I Found Out'"? :DD

[@phaedrus000]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZyQi4tje7aYh6M

[@todddougherty9492]

Already done dude

[@CrazyBear65]

You made no mention of the pattern. There is a pattern that you run, same pattern on every board, works for over a hundred boards before it doesn't. Also, in the early 80s when Pac Man first showed up, we called them monsters, not ghosts. I always saw them as fuzzy, like the critters from the Critters films. Also, you used to be able to hold a roll of quarters in your fist and bang the machine in the certain sweet spot near the coin slots and rack up credits. They fixed that glitch by like 82/83 though. It worked on Galaxians too, and on some pinball machines.

[@talideon]

Guys, this left out the single most key element of how the ghost AI in Pac Man works: Pac Man has a smell. The ghosts' AIs track the 'scent' Pac Man leaves behind on tiles to figure out his location, and this 'scent' diffuses and dissipates over time. The ghosts move pretty randomly if they don't have Pac Man's scent, and it's only when they _do_ have his scent that the AI kicks in. This means that the pathfinding can be kept relatively simple rather than implementing something like Dijstra's algorithm or A*, which would've been infeasible on the hardware of the time. Essentially, the smarts are in the _maze_, not the ghosts.

[@manfromnantucket9544]

I've watched King of Kong. Not a fan of Billy Mitchell and his gang of cronies

[@yittmashups]

Oh, come on, they were obviously trying to paint a story that would tug at the most heartstrings. Billy Mitchell was not a god damn villain.

[@problemecium]

I always thought the fourth ghost was called "Sue" o_O

[@CrimsonCreationAGM]

1:52 I always wondered how blinky would catch me when he’s just behind me lolol

[@bro748]

I feel like there's something important about the AI that wasn't mentioned. When the ghosts are in chase mode and they reach an intersection they choose which way to go based on which adjacent tile is closest to the ghost's target tile (with the target tiles being what was described in this video; e.g. Blinky's target tile is the tile that Pac-man is in.) This means that they won't necessarily take the fastest route to their target tile. Also, the ghosts only ever turn around if they are switching between modes, so the only time that they will choose where to go is if they reach an intersection.

[@ntwadumelamata7785]

Anybody remembers Pac-Land?

[@RandomAmerican3000]

The rides were amazing and they had the best cotton candy. I cannot believe they shut it down just because of one fatal accident.

[@TheRedRaccoonDog]

Unfortunately.

[@charlesajones77]

Yes. Played that game a lot at a local Pizza-Hut

[@charlesajones77]

Fun Fact about that game: In the US its appearance was altered to look like the American Pac-Man cartoon. This led many people to think it was based on the cartoon, or vice-versa. In fact, the Japanese version had nothing to do with the cartoon.

[@TheRedRaccoonDog]

- Pac-land was a broken, shitty platformer. Why on earth does anyone like it?! A and B to move left and right. D pad to jump. Game should fuck off and die.

[@LordMelusar]

Speaking of video games and games in general, what is the orgin of the term "nerf"? And why do we use it?

[@blackblood9095]

I can't remember which game it is from, but they made the guns less powerful, and people complained that it felt as though they were shooting each other with nerf guns.

[@marcjtdc]

On the commodore 64v we had Snack-Man! So much fun! You had to load it from an actual cassette tape!

[@GregoryTheGr8ster]

U bet that I enjoyed this video! I have hit the "thumb's up" button as you instructed. This is perhaps the best educational video ever, since the creation of Pac-Man is one of the defining moments in human history. If Billy Mitchell plays arcade games so much, he'd wear out the buttons and the joysticks. I remember video game arcades quite fondly.

[@Ketobbey]

That was AMAZING! Did you know if you put your finger in your eat and open up your ear and open your mouth wide and close your mouth fast enough and reopen it again over and over in a relatively quiet place it sounds like Pam-Man eating?

[@JoseGranny]

Ketobbey Waters Hahaha, nice try

[@stupidestanimations598]

A_Transposition_Error it's actually true I just tried it

[@Kaiwala]

This works better if you lube up your ear with vodka and then getting rid of it once your done by lighting it on fire.

[@woodfur00]

Sorry, got dental hardware, all I hear is gentle scraping.

[@burger-jd8cx]

translated from korean.... Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating? Pam-man eating?

[@Cameroner1]

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

[@petergray2712]

There is no air to cause to dry. Most glues are water or solvent based, and that has to evaporate for it to bond.

[@evanbranagan7663]

I thought u wrote butthole

[@terriehumphries6028]

It will if you open up the bottle and let it dry. I experimented on that when I was like eight right after I tasted it. Lol

[@yosefmacgruber1920]

Glue does stick to the inside of the bottle. For you will never get the last bit of glue out of the bottle, unless you wash it out. But the entire liquid contents of the bottle, can not stick to the bottle. The glue has to dry out, and many glues are designed to form a thin adhesive layer, and not so much a thick space-filling substance.

[@PBSpiralGamer]

I remember searching that and if I remember correctly, they have something in the glue that makes it sticky only when it comes in contact with air. Which is why if you leave the lid of the glue inside gets dry.

[@donkique956]

The original arcade game has patterns that allow a player to learn them and thus help the player achieve higher levels and scores.

[@rayhicks7533]

the pattern only worked if YOU did the exact same thing..1 mess up would destroy the pattern..everytime

[@dekoldrick]

I actually made a Pac-Man clone to see if I could imitate these ghosts behaviors because a lot of clones I played had the ghosts just move at random. I actually manage to get them to move exactly like the real thing except for the scatter mode and speeding up due to the fact they would glitch and overshoot the openings in tiles and sometimes get stuck in tiles because they moved to fast.

[@chatotalks5325]

actually the 256th half-stage is caused by the game running out of code, the creator knew this would happen just not when it would.

[@mikebetz42]

That's not true, it's a bug in the code. The level counter in the original Pac-Man is stored as an 8-bit integer, meaning the highest value it can hold is 255. However, a bug in the game's programming causes the level counter to "roll-over" to 256, resulting in an integer overflow and causing the game to attempt to draw 256 fruit to the screen. The result is the garbled mess on the right side of the maze.

[@madthumbs1564]

You should cite your source: pacman.wikia.com/wiki/Map_256_Glitch

[@philrod1]

That makes absolutely no sense at all. If you really want to understand what happens at level 256, take a look at this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHyul4pujZ6oj80 by Retro Game Mechanics Explained.

[@silkwesir1444]

it's NOT a bug in the game's programming that causes the counter to roll over. that's just how 8-bit unsigned integers work. however, you could say it is a bug that the game does not "catch" that. (by today's standards it would be considered a bug, back then not so much. they did not expect anyone to ever get to such a high level.)

[@philrod1]

Silkwesir - it most definitely is a bug. It's unwanted behaviour due to sloppy coding that could easily have been avoided (just stop incrementing the level counter after level 21). Whether or not the devs knew or cared about it is debatable. Personally I'm glad it crashes, otherwise the game could go on forever and there would be no such thing as a "perfect" score.

[@KashNoK]

Never left pacman so fast.

[@VS-hz8fm]

A Confused Cat ayyyyy

[@Nick007Gaming]

I use Trello for everything. It's amazing.

[@ace942]

Thanks for the video. Pac-Man was one of my favorite games in the arcade (I like Super PacMan more than the original).

[@Mr.Glidehook]

Great video! And now for my second attempt to get your attention, because you are the only source I trust for answers to such a question. Here goes: for the past few years I've noticed that Hillshire Farms, Oscar Mayer and other packaged sliced ham and turkey stink of guano or decomposition when opening them, be they packed in tubs or zipper bags. I remember what ham and turkey really smell like, but this is true across brands and despite the "use by" date. I'm not buying them anymore, but what's going on?

[@CarlosRodriguez-dd4sb]

michael Smith likely sulfur compounds used as preservatives

[@Mr.Glidehook]

Carlos Rodriguez thanks, but I'm curious why and what those additives do to the consumer. I want to know what those companies are playing with.

[@Fuzzycat16]

Nothing. since the ammounts are so small.There's cyanide in apple seeds..yet apples are sold everywhere.

[@PsyckoSama]

Or, like Billy Mitchell, you can cheat!

[@peterbrown8521]

Using Trello, looks like a great tool, simple to use.

[@gregrofrum1041]

There was also a trick billy did he said “if you turn at the ghost at 160th of a second you can pass them and you need to do that for 20k+ times for a total of 10hours”

[@CravingBeer]

"How is that even possible?" "Because I'm Billy Mitchell" kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZyZnJyCgJV8msU Enough said.

[@GumMagnum]

CravingBeer because he cheated

[@fleamarketsnack3280]

CravingBeer that dude murdered that game...

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

prograde No, he found some arcane bug.

[@GumMagnum]

niceme.me

[@jesusurrabieta9700]

Great video until you tarnish it by giving credit to a renowned cheater...

[@LetsBuildWordPress]

arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/court-king-of-kongs-billy-mitchell-isnt-an-exploding-floating-cartoon-head/ lol

[@artao5]

I'm surprised you missed this useful info: You can tell which direction any ghost will turn at the next intersection by the direction they're looking. They'll go the direction they're looking.

[@MrGotropic]

Billy Mitchell must just laugh at George Costanza and his Frogger high Score Record

[@Tech_Marauder]

Uh Oh, looks like you need to update this video, Billy Mitchel was found to be a cheater at literally every game he was "good at" .... and also a horrible cheater.... A really despicable person too...

[@JacobHollis96]

Please add your sponsors at the beginning or end of the video.

[@deadfreightwest5956]

4:35 - POKEY also refers to Atari's Pot Keyboard Integrated Circuit, which is what I think it really means.

[@GuddishNuggish]

Suggestion: 1.) More Footage or Gameplay. 2.) More Photos or Animations.

[@tazzie165]

Question is it true that us humans evolved from walking on all 4 until today or did we evolve already walking on our 2 legs

[@tazzie165]

ThatAussieGirl hey Aussie girl I myself am an Aussie I really want whistler to tell the stupid among us that we didn't walk on all 4

[@madscientistshusta]

were you born with a brain or did it fall out sometime between birth and this comment?

[@Eric_8724]

Depends what you consider human, if you mean homo sapiens then no, homo sapiens have always walked on two legs. But you can certainly trace our evolutionary tree back to earlier hominid species which did walk on all fours. The first hominid to walk on two legs was ardipithecus ramidus which lived 4.5 million years ago, 2 million years before the first homo sapiens. There's no real definition for which species are human and which aren't so one could make the argument that the early hominids that still walked on all fours were still human which really only means to have human form or attributes.

[@amojak]

Op you need to realise that humans have a common ancestor with the other apes. some of these apes also walk on two legs so on this basis the 4 legs walking thing predates that commonality.

[@tomleonard830]

According to the riddle of the sphinx, we walk on four legs, then two, then three - infant crawling, normal walking, then walking assisted by a cane.

[@carlmuller4392]

One minor addition: the ghosts cannot go upwards through the two tunnels above the ghost house except in scared mode. This is triggered by a bit in the palette tiles set when messages are displayed there.

[@KhAnime]

I like how this game is nearing 40 years old, and has better AI than alot of big AAA games of today

[@thefantorangster2491]

Saka dab boi

[@daaaaboo]

Today I found out - Billy Mitchell was recently caught cheating, you should put a disclaimer in the video documenting that. He is not longer the record holder for Donkey Kong and I believe Pac-Man as well.

[@wolverine9632]

Actually, Blinky tries to reach the tile that is 1 step ahead of Pac-Man. If you like being dangerous, you can use this to send Blinky down a passageway by timing it perfectly and turning around and the right moment.

[@ZackRing]

Note about Trello. I have used it for about six months now. It stopped updating on my phone about four months ago, but the company I was working with insisted on using it. If it wasn’t for that bug, it would be a good app.

[@liamcoghlan5408]

played this today at school

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

What is Bill Clinton doing at school? Looking for potential interns?

[@Awsome1sauce]

Billy mitchel was confirmed to have cheated for his records

[@elementalsigil]

The pac champ also talks about a perfect corner where you pass through the ghost and don't die.

[@tomleonard830]

Him talking about the patterns and stuff remind me of ParZival on Arcade in Ready Player One.

[@ShaddySoldier]

Lol Billy is a proven cheater

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

I think describing scores in archaic video games as 'achievements' is using the word quite wrongly.

[@foxymetroid]

They both share the same purposes: They provide an incentive to keep playing and they give you something to brag about.

[@Fuzzycat16]

How is it wrong? Go look up the definition for "achievements" ...Getting a perfect score IS an achievement. Achievements are not only things you unlock for doing mundane shit....

[@jaypee9575]

Fuzzycat I was going to agree with you friend, but you really dropped the ball there at the end. The word achievement has been around long before they invented the Xbox, you know.

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

Fuzzycat technically, yes, but so is learning to not wet the bed and masturbating without crying, I was just pointing out that it's a low bar to use the word so enthusiastically for something so banal.

[@Laki2]

Top notch video!

[@sparticus214]

I thought it was an algorithm, which player direction vs duration determines variables of the ghost alogorithm. For example if player goes North half way then west then ghost x-y+z