Just like her famous companion, Ms. Pac-Man lives in a maze filled with dots, power pellets, and the occasional bonus item. Those four ghosts are also back, and are just as intent on cutting Ms. Pac-Man's dot-munching days short as they were in the original game. Fortunately the power pellets have also returned. Also fortunately, there are a number of new and different features that allow Ms. Pac-Man to live in a world all her own.
Each time Ms. Pac-Man clears a maze, a new set of dots appears. As the game progresses, Ms. Pac-Man and the ghosts become faster, the time granted by the power pellets becomes less, and the reward for eating a bonus fruit increases. The maze itself changes periodically as well, first following Level 2, and then every three levels after that. Four mazes appear in all, with the last two alternating during the later levels of the game.
Ms. Pac-Man's four adversaries each has his or her own personality. The red ghost, named Blinky, pursues Ms. Pac-Man directly after spotting him. The pink ghost, Pinky, tries to head Ms. Pac-Man off and catch her in the opposite direction. Inky, the blue-green ghost, is hard to predict and often actually runs away from Ms. Pac-Man. Finally, the slowest ghost, the orange Sue, tends to follow her own path, seemingly uninterested in Ms. Pac-Man's whereabouts.
A bonus item appears twice in each level, coming out of a warp tunnel and then bouncing around the maze until either it is eaten, or it disappears back into a tunnel. The items are:
| 1st level | Cherry |
| 2nd level | Strawberry |
| 3rd level | Orange |
| 4th level | Pretzel |
| 5th level | Apple |
| 6th level | Pear |
| 7th level | Banana |