Darth Nuno,

That's a good score for the 2nd Grape board. Seriously, you've reached far without any 'partial' patterns, well done ! 

Here's my 'Apple' partial pattern that I devised in 1982/3 and still use it today -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=h4lGuEiiu9Q

Multi million point games on Pac man are quite rare nowdays.
Not only are there a very tiny fraction of the players playing Pac Man today, but the ones who set out with the intention to succeed, sometimes get either bored or read about the 'Perfect' scores from the modern era and feel 'what's the point' ?

My tips to the guys who would like to improve their game are pointed out in Retro Gamer. Being 'Perfect' is indeed important, but not in points, in ones joystick movements. You will be amazed just how much your confidence will grow once you sort this out. You can flow around the maze without hesitating in the corners. 

There are many ways to improve your scores as well. The modern MAME gamer can access many 'hidden' talents which the Retro gamer never had BITD. What I will say guys is choose whatever means you feel more comfortable with. I would suggest buying the book 'Mastering Pac Man' by the late Ken Uston (as shown) and get used to the early strategies and patterns. I used this book in 1982 and I used it again in 2007 in order to kick start my memory for the patterns and strategies I used so many times as a teenager. 

The reason I suggest doing it this way is to keep the game 'pure' and exactly the way the original gamers did it in the Arcades of the 80's. The Americans had access to 'rack advancing' in the early 80's I am told, some even had their own cabs ! 

Midway sold 50,000 Pac Man cabs in the U.S alone, so it is possible that considering these numbers, the chances are that indeed the very top players had used the rack advance feature of the cab to help out in the pattern process.

I for one never ever heard of the above when I played 
I went into the Arcade, put 10p in and played (or practiced patterns) until I died, simple as.

When the U.S guys reached the Splitscreen in late 82, early 83, they were convinced that the screen was indeed passable. I had a chat with Tim Balderramos recently (Tim was World Champion in 83) and he explained that this was the reason that the record score stayed 'in limbo' for a while until I beat it in June of that year. I concentrated on a point press for screen 1 - 21 and then the run up to the split.

Once you are familiar with the ghosts 'behaviour' and the reasons why they behave in such a way, you're halfway there to setting big scores. Couple this with some partial patterns and some basic grouping techniques (the ghosts can be manipulated) and you will acheive 6 figure scores with practice.

To acheive a multi million point game needs a lot of stamina and concentraton. Running a 9th key pattern for 235 boards without hesitation (or the pattern simply breaks down) and to do this in a 'live' Arcade enviroment in which I only play, with the sounds of the arcade, sometimes this can be a distraction in itself, but keeps the score 'authentic' for me.   

I'm on a quest to topple my 3.221 million score at Funspot in May/June this year. I had a 3.257 million game in July '83 but the score wasn't properley adjudicated, so it's there to be beat.

Keep practicing, it's a great game.

Here's my cab -



...... and something I thought you would like ..... 



Well, keep up the hard work, both the forum & Pac Man

Best wishes
Jon.