Pac & Pal

“Pac & Pal” is a 1983 arcade game by Namco, a sequel-of-sorts to “Super Pac-Man.” It was released only in Japan and is considered extremely rare outside of Japan. The gameplay is quite different from that of its predecessors.

Rather than having the maze filled to the brim with pellets, there are only a few pieces of fruit that Pac-Man needs to get; and they aren’t immediately accessible. Pac-Man first needs to flip over cards which open the doors to the cages that the fruit are in. These cards are distributed randomly, so flipping over a card on the lower-left corner of the screen could very well open a door on the upper-right.

During all of this, a friendly female ghost (the titular “Pal”) flies toward whatever fruit is accessible. If she reaches an item before Pac-Man, she will carry it back to the central hub (the ghosts’ house). Having her carry items will save you the trouble of fetching them yourself, but you’ll receive fewer points. Also, Pal’s movement is also random, meaning that she might just snag an item when you’re only an inch away from getting it yourself!

“Pac & Pal” also includes a bonus round that relies on sheer luck–Pac-Man must flip over as many cards as he can without flipping over the red ghost card. Points are tallied based on how many cards you flip.