Cruise Elroy or sometimes simply Elroy, is a mechanic in the original Pac-Man. When Pac-Man eats a certain amount of Pac-Dots in the maze, Blinky will gain a speed boost making him the same speed as the player.
Mechanic[]
The minimum number of Pac-Dots that Pac-Man must eat in order for Blinky to become Cruise Elroy gets lower and lower as the game progresses. Pac-Man must eat 224 dots on level 1, 214 dots on level 2, 204 on levels 3-5, 194 on levels 6-8, 184 on levels 9-11, 164 on levels 12-14, 144 on levels 15-18, and 124 on levels 19-255. Cruise Elroy cannot be triggered on Level 256.
When Blinky becomes Cruise Elroy, he will be the same speed as Pac-Man. This will make him increasingly harder to avoid and survive. Cruise Elroy will go after Pac-Man even when the rest of the ghosts are in Scatter Mode going to their respective corners. Cruise Elroy can only be triggered when all of the ghosts are outside the Regeneration Chamber.
This mechanic is also present in Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man (in identical fashion), and is replicated in many other Pac-Man maze games, such as Pac & Pal.
Name Origin[]
The origin of the name "Cruise Elroy" as the colloquial term used by players to describe this specific gameplay feature is currently unknown.
Cruise is an irish surname, while Elroy is a French-given name meaning "the king".
it is theorized to be a non-sensical term based on Elroy from The Jetsons, the son of George Jetson.
Trivia[]
- Cruise Elroy cannot be triggered in the maze section of Pac-Man World Re-Pac.