Amazing Maze © 1976 Midway.
Each player (up to 2 people may play at a time, 2-player mode is more fun), controls a little geometric shape. Each player starts at opposite sides of the maze. The object is to get to the point where the other player started, before they get to where you started. You use a joystick to guide your 'character' through the maze. The game is time based, and you score a point for each maze you beat faster than your opponent (or the computer player if you are going solo). The factory setting is for a 90 second game, but this is operator adjustable. The graphics are done in monochrome white on black. With no detail on anything. The maze walls are only a pixel thick, while the characters themselves (simple shapes), are not much bigger. The mazes are not stylized in anyway. They look exactly like the kind of maze you would do with a paper and pen.
This game was released in an upright dedicated cabinet. The cabinet is white and tan with sideart covering the entire machine. Like many other early titles, there was no marquee at all. The name was merely on the monitor bezel (on the top in this case). The name confusion about this game comes from the fact that the monitor bezel says 'Amazing Maze', while the sideart says 'Maze' and the game itself says 'The Amazing Maze Game' on the title screen. The marquee, or monitor bezel title is generally considered to be the definitive one in the case where a game has conflicting titles like that. The control panel was simple, and featured a joystick for each player. But, player 1 had to use his left hand for the stick (like most games), but player 2 had to use their right hand, due to the control panel layout.
Cabinet dimensions : 26,5inch. (67cm) Wide x 64,5inch. (164cm) High x 24inch. (61cm) Deep.
Cabinet weight : 220 lbs.
Game ID : 611
Main CPU : MCS-80 8080 @ 1.996800 MHz
Sound Chips : Discrete circuitry
Screen orientation : Horizontal (23inch. monochrome open frame monitor)
Video resolution : 260 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 2
Players : 2
Control : 4-way joystick
Released in October 1976. This is one of the first maze video game ever produced, and far more complex than you may be used to. This is no "Ms. Pac-Man". The mazes in this game are as complex as ones you might find in those little maze books you may have had as a child, none of that multiple path, wishy washy stuff like "Pac-Man" or "Lady Bug". These mazes have only one correct pathway through them.
The maze changes with every point made and never repeats itself. You can play the game for 24 hours or for 24 years and not see the same pattern.
CONSOLES:
Bally Astrocade (1977)
Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.
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