Designed and programmed by Ed Averett, Munchkin is very heavily based on Namco's 1980 arcade game Pac-Man, but not a direct clone.

Atari initially failed to convince a U.S. district court to halt the sale of Munchkin, but ultimately won its case on appeal.

[2] Atari sued Philips for copyright infringement, arguing that Munchkin copied Pac-Man with its substantial similarities as evidence.

In Crazy Chase's maze, the Munchkin character powers up and advances not by eating pills, but by devouring the Dratapillar's segmented body.

Redesigned to avoid another copyright dispute, the Munchkin character rolls through Crazy Chase's mazes without the continuous chomping motion characteristic of Pac-Man.