When Pac-Man begins the round, every item in the maze that he must eat is behind locked gates, and every card in the maze is face down.
You must flip over the cards in order to unlock the items. Each card unlocks a predetermined item. No more than three cards can be flipped over, before Pac-Man must claim at least one of the unlocked items, or Miru must bring it into the ghost regenerator, where it will disappear.
In the early rounds of the game (through the ninth), the item that a particular card unlocks will be close to that card. In the later rounds of the game (tenth through eighteenth), it is not uncommon for a card to unlock an item that is located on the opposite side of the screen from the card. Occasionally, a round will give the player a break by placing the cards right in front of their respective items.
As soon as an item is unlocked, Miru (or Chomp Chomp), will start to make her way towards it. If they manage to get to it before Pac-Man does, they will begin to drag the item back to the ghost regenerator moving at half their usual speed. Pac-Man must then try to intercept Miru (or Chomp Chomp).
When they hold an item, Miru (or Chomp Chomp) will always pass under the ghost regenerator to the opposite side of the maze before heading up and into it, bringing the item along with them and destroying the item in the process.
The two power items are always found on either side of the ghost regenerator. When Pac-Man eats one of them, he turns blue and grows slightly. Pressing the Fire Button emits a beam from his mouth that can stun the ghosts for a short while; however he is not invulnerable and can still be killed if he touches a ghost while powered-up.
The orange space beneath the ghost regenerator doesn't have any special properties other than to hide Pac-Man from view. The ghosts are forced to slow down in some sections around the outside of the orange area, due to the lack of tunnels. The top of the orange section cannot be entered by any Ghost, making it useful for escaping and hiding from Ghosts.
The third round, and every fourth round thereafter is a bonus, a common feature in contemporary Namco games.
On each bonus round, one of the cards in the maze hides Blinky, and another card hides Miru. The rest of the cards, hide $ (dollar) signs. The cards which hide Blinky and Miru are selected randomly each round.
You must flip over as many cards as you can before you eventually uncover Blinky.
If you uncover Miru, you will double the final bonus, which is displayed inside the ghost regenerator.
For every $ that you uncover, 100 points are added to your bonus. Miru and Blinky are also worth 100 bonus points when you uncover them.
Once you have uncovered Blinky, the bonus round will immediately end and the points are tabulated.
You will earn a 10000-point perfect bonus if Blinky is under the last card that you turn over.
