Gobbler

Goal of the game

Guide Gobbler through the maze and eat every pellet to move on to the next stage. Avoid the four ghosts: a single touch costs you a life. The game ends when you have no lives left.

How it works

• Pellet: 10 points. Power pellet: 50 points, and the ghosts become vulnerable for a few seconds.
• Vulnerable ghosts: 200, 400, 800, then 1,600 points in a chain.
• Fruit appears below the ghost house: 100 to 5,000 points.
• Extra life at 10,000 and at 50,000 points.
• The side tunnels make you reappear on the other side; ghosts slow down in them.
• Four original mazes follow one another, faster and faster.

Controls

• Arrow keys or WASD; on mobile, swipe the screen or use the directional pad.
• Your next turn is remembered: call it before the junction and Gobbler will turn at the right moment.
• P or Esc: pause (automatic if you switch tabs).

The ghosts

• Ember (direct chase): always aims for your square.
• Lynx (ambush): aims four squares ahead of you to cut you off.
• Sentinel (patrol): makes the rounds of the maze and charges as soon as you enter its range.
• Sprite (random wander): roams at random and runs away when you get close.

About the AI

Each ghost picks its direction at every junction by aiming for a target square specific to its personality, never turning back except at a phase change. Scatter phases (each ghost heads back to its corner) and chase phases alternate; vulnerable ghosts wander at random and eaten ghosts return home by the shortest path. At low speeds, ghosts deliberately make steering mistakes; at the Hellish level, they never go wrong and move faster than you.