Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost
Shares rank 5 of 6 arcade games by recommenders
People recommend it for its original, funny concept of playing Pac-Man as the ghost. The most common caveat is sluggish swipe controls that make turning hard.
People recommend it for its original, funny concept of playing Pac-Man as the ghost. The most common caveat is sluggish swipe controls that make turning hard.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 33%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Original, funny concept
“Incredible concept. It's a little easy to figure out how to game the pac-man's movement”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “I never laughed so hard at a game.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” Fun to play
“I actually love playing this and would love to see a more polished version.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Swipe controls sluggish or laggy
“The controls in this version are, for lack of a better word, sluggish compared to the tight responsiveness of the originals”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “Could be my shitty phone, but the swipe lag is huge. I can swipe ~1s ahead of time and still miss a turn.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “The swipe controls are solid trash”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” - Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost”
AI-slop quality concerns
“I agree on the AI-slop or lack of quality production.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “AI slop without the corner easing”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” Missing corner easing
“the lack of corner easing like the original game makes it less fun”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “AI slop without the corner easing”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” Ghost gets stuck in pen
“I'm struggling to even leave the ghost pen on iOS.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost” “you can't get out of the box”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Pac-Man, but You're the Ghost”
Other arcade games people recommend
The four most recommended other arcade games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fly By retro biplane game | 22 | 7 | 76% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Sopwith | 18 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Pac-Man | 9 | 2 | 82% | 5 | — | — |
| Atari Tempest arcade game | 8 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Pac-Man, but You're the GhostThis page | 5 | 10 | 33% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Incredible concept. It's a little easy to figure out how to game the pac-man's movement”
“I never laughed so hard at a game.”
“I actually love playing this and would love to see a more polished version.”
“The swipe controls are solid trash”
“the ghost is slightly faster which makes the game winnable”
“The controls are horrid though.”
“you can't get out of the box”
“Could be my shitty phone, but the swipe lag is huge. I can swipe ~1s ahead of time and still miss a turn.”
“I'm struggling to even leave the ghost pen on iOS.”
“The controls in this version are, for lack of a better word, sluggish compared to the tight responsiveness of the originals”
“I agree on the AI-slop or lack of quality production.”
“AI slop without the corner easing”
“the lack of corner easing like the original game makes it less fun”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.