Maze Chomper
Classic maze chase — eat every dot before the ghosts catch you
Maze Chomper brings the timeless joy of classic arcade maze-chase gaming directly to your browser, free and without any download. Guide your bright yellow Chomper through a labyrinth of winding corridors, gobbling up hundreds of dots while four cunning ghost opponents pursue you with distinct personalities and targeting strategies. The game is instantly playable on desktop with arrow keys or WASD, and fully optimized for touch screens via swipe gestures and an on-screen directional pad. The core objective is beautifully simple: clear every small dot from the maze to advance to the next level. There are 240 small dots worth 10 points each, and four larger power pellets stationed near the corners of the maze worth 50 points each. Collecting a power pellet temporarily turns all four ghosts blue and vulnerable — during this frightened window you can chomp through them for escalating bonus points: 200 for the first, 400 for the second, 800 for the third, and an impressive 1,600 for eating all four in a single power-up chain. The four ghost opponents each pursue you in a meaningfully different way. The red ghost named Shadow uses direct pursuit — it always heads straight for your current tile, making it the most relentless chaser. The pink ghost named Speedy is an ambusher — it targets a position four tiles ahead of where you are heading, trying to cut you off before you get there. The cyan ghost named Bashful uses a clever flanking strategy: it calculates a point two tiles in front of you, then mirrors it relative to Shadow's current position, doubling the distance. This means Bashful and Shadow work as an unintentional team, pinching you from two directions. The orange ghost named Pokey is shy — when it's more than eight tiles away it chases you like Shadow, but when it gets close it retreats to its corner instead. The maze also features two warp tunnels on the left and right edges of the playing field. Both you and the ghosts can pass through these tunnels to appear on the opposite side of the screen, though ghosts slow down significantly while traveling through them. This creates strategic options — racing through a tunnel can shake a pursuing ghost that hesitates at the entrance. Levels increase in difficulty as you progress. Ghost movement speed increases, your own speed relative to the ghosts changes, and the duration of the frightened power-pellet window grows shorter with each level. At higher levels, power pellets may grant no frightened time at all, making the game considerably more challenging. A fruit bonus item also appears near the center of the maze twice per level — collecting it scores between 100 and 5,000 bonus points depending on your current level, starting with a cherry on level one and progressing through strawberries, peaches, apples, grapes, and more exotic items on later levels. Ghosts cycle through behavioral modes automatically during gameplay. They begin in scatter mode, retreating to their assigned home corners, then switch into chase mode where they actively pursue you using their unique targeting algorithms, then scatter again, and so on. This rhythm creates natural breathing room when ghosts scatter and intensified danger when they converge during chase phases. Eating a power pellet overrides whatever mode the ghosts are in and forces them all into frightened mode immediately. Your score persists as a high score in your browser's local storage, so you can track your personal best across multiple sessions. The game also records your statistics: total games played, highest level reached, and best score achieved. An extra life is awarded when you first reach 10,000 points. You start each game with three lives and gain one more — but only once — for reaching that milestone. Whether you are rediscovering a childhood favorite or experiencing the maze-chase genre for the first time, Maze Chomper delivers the authentic experience that has captivated players for decades. The strategic depth hidden beneath the simple concept — learning ghost movement patterns, mastering corner-cutting turns, knowing when to chase ghosts and when to flee — keeps the game engaging far beyond a quick distraction.
Understanding Maze Chomper
What Is Maze Chomper?
Maze Chomper is a browser-based arcade maze-chase game inspired by the classic dot-eating genre that originated in Japanese arcades in 1980. You control a circular yellow character with an animated chomping mouth who must navigate a symmetrical 28-by-31 tile maze grid, consuming every dot and power pellet to complete each level. Four ghost opponents with distinct AI behaviors simultaneously hunt you, and touching any non-frightened ghost costs you a life. The game combines fast reflexes with strategic decision-making — recognizing ghost patrol patterns, timing power-pellet consumption for maximum chain scores, and mastering the maze's winding corridors to escape tight situations.
How Are Scores Calculated?
Small dots are worth 10 points each, and there are 240 of them per level for a base total of 2,400 points from dots alone. The four power pellets are worth 50 points each. Ghosts eaten during a single frightened phase follow a doubling chain: the first ghost eaten is worth 200 points, the second 400, the third 800, and the fourth 1,600 — a maximum ghost chain of 3,000 points per power pellet. Fruit bonuses range from 100 points on level one up to 5,000 points on level thirteen and beyond. An extra life is awarded exactly once when your cumulative score crosses 10,000 points. High scores are stored in your browser's local storage so your personal best persists between visits.
Why Does Ghost AI Matter?
Understanding that each ghost has a distinct targeting strategy transforms the game from a pure reflex challenge into a strategic puzzle. Shadow always chases your current position — fleeing in circles will eventually trap you as it always closes in. Speedy targets ahead of you — moving toward Speedy head-on is often safer than running away. Bashful flanks using Shadow's position — when Shadow is far away, Bashful's target is actually close to you. Pokey retreats when near — you can sometimes use Pokey's shyness to safely collect dots in its corner. Recognizing these behaviors lets you make smarter routing decisions, power-pellet timing choices, and escape maneuvers rather than reacting randomly to each ghost.
Browser Game Limitations
Maze Chomper runs entirely in your browser using the HTML5 Canvas API with no plugins or downloads required. Performance depends on your device's processing capability — modern smartphones and desktops handle the 60fps game loop without issue. Touch controls rely on swipe detection which may occasionally misread very short or diagonal swipes; the on-screen directional pad provides a more reliable alternative for mobile play. Sound effects require browser audio permission and may be silent on some mobile browsers until user interaction occurs. High scores are stored in browser local storage and will be lost if you clear your browser data. The game does not have online multiplayer or global leaderboards — scores are tracked locally only.
How to Play Maze Chomper
Start the Game
Click New Game or press Enter to begin. After a brief Ready countdown your yellow Chomper appears in the maze center-bottom. The four ghosts begin exiting their central pen one by one. Use Arrow Keys or WASD to move — your Chomper will remember your next direction input so you can pre-buffer turns before reaching a corridor.
Eat Dots and Avoid Ghosts
Navigate the maze eating all 240 small white dots (10 pts each). Touching any ghost in its normal red, pink, cyan, or orange state costs you a life. Use the warp tunnels on the left and right edges to escape — ghosts slow down in the tunnels, giving you a speed advantage. When you eat all dots the level is cleared and you advance.
Use Power Pellets Strategically
Four large power pellets glow in the maze corners. Eating one turns all ghosts blue for several seconds — during this window you can eat ghosts for 200, 400, 800, and 1,600 points in chain. The frightened window shrinks each level, so on higher levels you must act quickly. Ghosts flash white as the frightened period is about to expire. Eaten ghost eyes float back to the ghost house to respawn.
Collect Fruit Bonuses and Track Your Best
A bonus fruit item appears near the ghost house entrance twice per level — once after 70 dots and again after 170 dots are eaten. Collect it before it disappears (about 9 seconds) for 100 to 5,000 bonus points. Your high score is automatically saved to your browser. Reach 10,000 points to earn a free extra life. Check the leaderboard to track your top 5 personal best scores.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the ghosts sometimes seem to work together?
The ghosts appear to cooperate because their individual targeting algorithms complement each other unintentionally. Shadow directly chases your current position. Bashful's targeting uses Shadow's position as a reference point — it calculates two tiles in front of you, draws a vector from Shadow to that point, then doubles it. This means when Shadow is behind you and Bashful is in front, Bashful's target actually lands far ahead of you while Shadow closes in from behind, effectively creating a pincer. Understanding this dynamic is key to advanced play — when you see Shadow approaching from one direction, expect Bashful to converge from the other side.
How does the power pellet chain scoring work?
When you eat a power pellet, a ghost chain counter starts at 1. The first ghost you eat while ghosts are frightened scores 200 points. The counter increments: the second ghost scores 400, the third 800, the fourth 1,600 — for a total possible chain of 3,000 points from a single power pellet. Eating a new power pellet resets the chain counter to 1 again. If frightened mode expires before you eat a ghost, the chain counter does not reset — it stays at wherever it was, so the next power pellet chain continues from that multiplier. This rewards aggressive play: eat all four ghosts in one frightened window for maximum points.
What is the scatter/chase mode cycle?
Ghosts do not always chase you directly — they alternate between scatter mode (retreating to their assigned corner) and chase mode (pursuing you with their unique AI). On level one the cycle is: scatter 7 seconds, chase 20 seconds, scatter 7 seconds, chase 20 seconds, scatter 5 seconds, chase 20 seconds, scatter 5 seconds, then chase indefinitely. On higher levels the scatter periods shrink until ghosts remain in chase mode almost permanently. Scatter mode provides brief breathing room where ghosts predictably retreat to corners, allowing you to safely eat dots in their path without getting surrounded.
How do the warp tunnels work?
The warp tunnels are located on row 14 (the middle row) at the far left and right edges of the maze. Moving your Chomper into the left tunnel exit teleports you to the right side, and vice versa. Both you and all four ghosts can use the tunnels. However, ghosts slow to approximately 40–50% of their normal speed while inside the tunnel passage, giving you a speed advantage if you use the tunnel to escape a chase. On higher difficulty levels, ghosts may follow you into tunnels more aggressively — using tunnels is not always a guaranteed escape, especially when multiple ghosts converge on that row.
Why do the ghosts exit the center pen at different times?
The four ghosts are released from their central pen at staggered intervals to give you a fair start. Shadow (red) starts already outside the pen and begins chasing immediately. Speedy (pink) exits almost immediately at the start of each level. Bashful (cyan) exits after approximately 30 dots have been eaten. Pokey (orange) exits after about 60 dots are consumed. These counters reset each time you lose a life — so if you die with 50 dots eaten, Bashful will re-exit after you eat 30 more dots in the next life. This ensures you are never immediately surrounded by all four ghosts after respawning.
What do the different difficulty settings change?
On Easy difficulty, ghost AI targeting becomes partially random — ghosts occasionally choose a random direction at intersections rather than always moving toward their target tile. This makes their movements less predictable in a forgiving way, giving you more time to react. Classic difficulty implements the authentic ghost targeting algorithms exactly as designed in the original arcade game. Hard difficulty shortens the frightened mode duration significantly at all levels, reducing the window you have to eat ghosts after consuming a power pellet. Hard mode also increases ghost speed relative to your own speed, making evasion more demanding. All difficulty settings retain the same scoring system and point values.