Yeah, waiting for the ghosts to get close was a standard strategy I used back when I played lots of Pacman. Having all the ghosts behind you gives you more con

Yeah, waiting for the ghosts to get close was a standard strategy I used back when I played lots of Pacman. Having all the ghosts behind you gives you more control since they'll follow you in a line. That the ghosts follow the player is what makes the game winnable. If they formed a grid and gradually closed-in, it would be impossible to escape. Edit: What was unexpected in this case was that the system found a strategy the programmer didn't think of.