Japanese game designer Toru Iwatani conceived the idea for Pac-Man while staring at the incomplete pizza of which he was, at that time, consuming. Minus the slice he was eating, the pizza took the shape of a hungry mouth. Puck-Man was born and it marks the first and only time that the future of videogames was determined by Italian cuisine!

Puck-Man? That's no typo! Puck-Man was the original name for Pac-Man and the name used in Japanese arcades. Namco wisely chose to alter the name in America and other English speaking countries to deter obvious potential acts of vandalism by teenage and otherwise immature individuals.

Pac-Man was popular. REALLY Popular, and started a marketing craze across the globe that allowed the Pac to join other character icon superstars such as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and and set the stage for upcoming videogame heroes such as Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Awesome Possum, and others. Okay, perhaps Awesome Possum wasn't so awesome, but Pac-Man was the first videogame mascot and was featured on hundreds of items from lunch boxes, to tooth brushes, to bed sheets and more!

If you are one of the millions of millions of individuals that have played Pac-Man, then you know that the yellow pellot-eating hero is on the run from four distinctly different ghost nemesis. You might know them as Bashful, Speedy, Shadow and Pokey, but did you know that there are 25 distinctly different names for the same four ghosts? Twenty-six if you consider 'Sue' from the Pac-Man with a bow, Ms. Pac-Man.

Why so many? Well, there were the original Japanese names, that were changed to be more acceptable to the American market. There were also nick-names for the ghosts for both languages. There are nine English names or nick-names for Pac-Man's antagonists, and 16 Japanese alternatives. Only the name 'Pinky' was used in both territories.

So, without further ado... the complete list of ghost names of Pac-Man organized by color:

BLUE Aosuke Bashful Inky Kimagure Mucky Stylist BLUE Kinky ?????

PINK Machibuse Micky Pinky Romp Speedy

ORANGE Clyde Cry Baby Guzuta Mocky Otoboke Pokey Sue

RED Akebei Blinky Macky Oikake Shadow Urchin

What's that? Dark Blue Pac-Man ghosts? Aren't the dark blue ghosts simply the regular ghosts transformed in color after Pac-Man gobbles up a power pellet? Well, that is true, but Namco also made a special tournament version of Pac-Man in Japan only, which was known as the 'Pac-Man Arrangement.' This version of Pac-Man had a few enhancements, one of which were the presence of five enemy ghosts in the mazes. The new additional ghost's name is unknown (listed only as "?????") but nick-named 'Kinky.'

Of further interest, you might be interested to learn that the Japanese "character" names are translated from Japanese they actually describe the artificial intelligence of the equivalent ghost. For instance, the red ghost Oikake translates "to pursue", the pink ghost Machibuse translates "to ambush", the blue ghost Kimagure translates to "moody" and the orange ghost Otoboke translates to "pretending ignorance". Now you are much more informed and do not have to pretend ignorance!


 Wocka wocka!