Swipe or use the arrow keys to eat every dot. Avoid the ghosts — unless you grab a power pellet!
Dot Muncher is a classic maze-chase arcade game rebuilt for modern browsers. You steer a hungry yellow muncher around a neon maze, eating every dot while four colorful ghosts hunt you down. Four large power pellets in the corners turn the tables for a few seconds, letting you chase and eat the ghosts instead. Clear all the dots to finish a level and the next maze begins a little faster, with ghosts that are a little more determined.
On a phone or tablet, swipe anywhere on the maze in the direction you want to go. You can chain swipes without lifting your finger. On a computer, use the arrow keys or WASD. The muncher keeps moving in its current direction until it hits a wall, and it remembers your next turn, so you can press ahead of a junction and the turn will happen automatically at the first chance. You can also reverse direction instantly at any time, which is often the quickest way to escape a ghost. The tunnel in the middle row wraps around to the other side of the maze, which gives you a handy shortcut and a useful escape route.
Each small dot is worth 10 points and each power pellet 50. When a power pellet is active the ghosts turn blue and slow down; eating one scores 200 points, and each further ghost eaten during the same pellet doubles the value, up to 1600 points. The ghosts flash white shortly before they turn dangerous again, which is your cue to head for safety. An eaten ghost returns to the ghost house in the center and re-enters the maze a few seconds later.
Every ghost has its own personality, which is what makes the chase interesting. The red ghost chases you directly. The pink ghost tries to ambush you by aiming a few squares ahead of where you are heading. The cyan ghost is unpredictable and sometimes wanders to random parts of the maze. The orange ghost chases you from a distance but retreats to the lower left corner when it gets too close. They leave the house one at a time, so the maze is calmest at the start of each life, and that is the best moment to eat the dots near the center.
Do not rush to eat power pellets as soon as you see them. A pellet is far more valuable when all four ghosts are close together, so you can eat several in a row for a huge combo, than when they are spread across the maze. Learn the loops: the maze has several circuits you can run around while a ghost follows, and a ghost that is chasing you rarely reverses direction, so a lap around a block usually shakes it off. Clear dots in the corridors that are farthest from the ghosts first, and save the dots near the ghost house for the moment right after you eat a power pellet. Use the wrap-around tunnel as an emergency exit, because ghosts that follow you into it often lose time. Finally, think ahead at every junction; looking two turns forward is the difference between a short run and a clear board.
The maze fits any screen and the swipe controls need no on-screen buttons, so your thumbs never cover the action. You have three lives per game and your highest score is stored in your browser. There is nothing to download, no account is required, and the game starts as soon as you press Start.