Yes. Scratch is free to use in a browser at scratch.mit.edu, and the offline editor is a free download. Accounts are optional but needed to save online.

How long does it take to make a Pac-Man game in Scratch?

Following this guide, a basic playable version takes about an hour. Adding multiple ghosts with proper behaviours, fruit and sound can take another hour or two.

Can I make the ghosts smarter?

Yes. Give each ghost its own target: one points towards Pac-Man, one towards a spot a few tiles ahead of him, one towards a corner. That mirrors how the real four ghosts differ.

Can I make Pac-Man in Python instead?

Yes. The logic in this guide — grid movement, wall collision, collectible list, chasing enemy — translates directly to Python with pygame.

Can I design my own Pac-Man maze without coding?

Yes. The World's Biggest Pac-Man project lets you draw a maze in a visual editor and publish it into a shared grid of player-made mazes — no code at all. You can play that grid on our Pac-Dots page. For a paper version, sketch your layout on squared paper first; it doubles as the plan for the Scratch backdrop in step 1.

How to Make a Pac-Man Game in Scratch: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Scratch editor with a Pac-Man sprite and code blocks for arrow-key movement

Pac-Man is one of the best first games to build in Scratch because every system in it is small: move, bump into walls, eat things, get chased. This guide walks through a complete, playable version in ten steps. You don't need any prior Scratch experience — just a free account at scratch.mit.edu.

Before you start

Two decisions make everything easier later. First, draw your maze walls in one solid colour (say, dark blue) and use no other blue anywhere — Scratch's touching color block is how we'll detect walls. Second, keep Pac-Man's movement speed a number that divides evenly into your corridor width (if corridors are 30 pixels wide, move 2, 3 or 5 steps at a time) so he lines up with the grid.

Step 1 — The maze backdrop

Click the Stage, open the Backdrops tab, and draw a maze with the rectangle tool in your wall colour. Leave the corridors black or white. Keep it simple for the first version: an outer border, a few inner blocks, and one gap on each side for the tunnel.

Step 2 — The Pac-Man sprite

Delete the cat. Paint a new sprite: a yellow circle with a wedge cut out. Duplicate the costume and close the mouth on the copy so you have two costumes — open and closed — for the chomping animation. Set the rotation style to all around so he faces the direction he moves.

Step 3 — Arrow-key movement with wall collision

In Pac-Man's code area:

when green flag clicked
go to x: 0 y: -100
forever
  if key right arrow pressed then
    point in direction 90
    move 3 steps
    if touching color [blue] then move -3 steps
  if key left arrow pressed then
    point in direction -90
    move 3 steps
    if touching color [blue] then move -3 steps
  (repeat for up = 0 and down = 180)
  next costume
  wait 0.05

The trick is in the two move blocks: step forward, and if that put you inside a wall, step straight back. It looks like you never moved.

Step 4 — The dots (using clones)

Paint a small white circle sprite called Dot. Hide it, then create clones at each grid position:

when green flag clicked
hide
set [dots left] to 0
set y to 140
repeat 10
  set x to -200
  repeat 14
    if not touching color [blue] then
      create clone of myself
      change [dots left] by 1
    change x by 30
  change y by -30

when I start as a clone
show
wait until touching [Pac-Man]
change [score] by 10
change [dots left] by -1
delete this clone

Make score and dots left variables for all sprites. The if not touching blue check stops dots spawning inside walls.

Step 5 — A ghost that chases

Paint a ghost sprite. The simplest working AI: move, and when you hit a wall, turn.

when green flag clicked
go to x: 0 y: 60
forever
  move 2 steps
  if touching color [blue] then
    move -2 steps
    turn right (pick random 1 to 3) * 90 degrees

To make it feel like Blinky, add a second script: forever → wait 3 → point towards Pac-Man. The ghost will now head your way every few seconds, then bounce around walls between decisions. Our ghost guide explains what the four real ghosts do if you want to build them properly.

Step 6 — Lives and getting caught

Make a lives variable set to 3. In Pac-Man's forever loop add:

if touching [Ghost] and not frightened = 1 then
  change [lives] by -1
  go to x: 0 y: -100
  wait 1
  if lives = 0 then
    say [Game over]
    stop all

Step 7 — Power pellets

Paint a bigger dot called Power Pellet and place four by hand. When Pac-Man touches one: broadcast frightened, set frightened to 1, wait 7 seconds, set it back to 0. In the ghost: when I receive frightened → switch costume to blue → wait 7 → switch costume to normal. Then in Pac-Man: if touching Ghost and frightened = 1 → change score by 200 → broadcast ghost eaten, and have the ghost go back to its start on that message.

Step 8 — Winning

In any sprite: wait until dots left = 0 → say "You win!" → stop all.

Step 9 — Sound

Add a short sound from the Scratch library (the "pop" works) and play it in the Dot clone script before it deletes itself. Add a longer one for game over.

Step 10 — Polish and share

Common improvements: a second ghost with a different colour and turn rule; a tunnel (when x > 240, set x to -240); fruit that appears when dots left hits 100; and a high-score variable. When it works, click Share and send the link to friends.

Common problems

Pac-Man gets stuck in walls — your speed doesn't divide into the corridor width, or the sprite's costume is bigger than the corridor. Shrink the costume.
Dots spawn inside walls — the wall colour in the check doesn't exactly match the backdrop. Use the eyedropper in the touching color block.
Ghost vibrates in a corner — add a tiny random turn even when not touching a wall, or move it further back after a collision.

The same design transfers almost line-for-line to Python with the pygame library if you want a next step. And if you'd rather study the real thing first, Classic Pac and How Pac-Man actually works are the references we'd use.