# What's the ragtime song that plays when you beat a level in PacMan?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 1, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542 "2005-12-01T10:18:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542/1 "2005-12-01T10:18:39Z")

</div>

I know that the first generation of video games used a lot of public domain music, especially old ragtime tunes. What’s that song that plays when you beat a level in Pacman?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542/2 "2005-12-01T16:45:05Z")

</div>

Do you mean interm.wav, from [this](http://www.classicgaming.com/pac-man/Sounds/) page? It’s the second link you come to.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542/3 "2005-12-02T08:29:07Z")

</div>

Yeah, that one.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-ragtime-song-that-plays-when-you-beat-a-level-in-pacman/333542/4 "2005-12-02T08:36:26Z")

</div>

“Jim Dandy to the Rescue,” if I’m not mistaken. Not ragtime—it’s from 1956.