''Maze Craze: A Game of Cops n’ Robbers'' is a game for the Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

) developed by Rick Maurer and published by Atari, Inc. in 1980. In ''Maze Craze'', two players compete to be the first to escape a randomly generated, top-down maze. Though primarily a two player game, any of the variations that don't involve interaction with the second player can be played solo.

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

rebranded ''Maze Craze'' as ''Maze Mania'' for its Tele-Games system.

Gameplay

The manual describes the situation as a "maze of city blocks" and the player a red or blue cop on patrol. The cops are represented as squares. The goal is to reach the exit. In multiplayer games, the first player to find their way out wins. Some variants add robber blocks to the maze which either need to be avoided or captured, depending. Others make the maze either partially or fully invisible, and maze is periodically revealed for a moment or only when the joystick button is pressed. In the "Blockcade" variant, each player can drop a false wall to trick the other player. There are settings to increase or decrease the speed of the cops and robbers and the number of robbers in the maze.

Development

Maurer had been working on a clone of ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...

'' for the VCS, but because no one at Atari seemed interested in it, he looked for a new project. He took inspiration from the

Fairchild Channel F The Fairchild Channel F, short for "Channel Fun", is a home video game console, the first to be based on a microprocessor and to use ROM cartridges (branded ' Videocarts') instead of having games built-in. It was released by Fairchild Camera and ...

''Maze'' cartridge by Mike Glass, resulting in ''Maze Craze''. He later completed his version of ''

'', which was officially licensed from

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

and became the

killer app A killer application (often shortened to killer app) is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operati ...

for the console. ''Maze Craze'' is a 4K cartridge.

References

External links

* {{maze-videogame-stub 1980 video games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Maze games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games about police officers Video games developed in the United States Sears video games

Gameplay

Development

See also

References

External links