Pac-Man, originally called Puck Man in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The player controls Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called "Power Pellets" causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points.
Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny and published by Atari Games and Midway Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a trackball. Marble Madness is known for using innovative game technologies: it was Atari's first to use the Atari System 1 hardware, the first to be programmed in the C programming language, and one of the first to use true stereo sound.
Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to Pac-Man (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wife, the player is tasked with eating all of the pellets in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating the larger "power pellets" lets the player eat the ghosts, who turn blue and flee.
The Crystal Maze is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine, based upon his format for the French game show Fort Boyard, and produced for Channel 4. The programme focuses on teams of contestants, a mixed group of men and women, attempting a range of challenges to earn time required to help them complete one final challenge, which if completed successfully earns them a prize. The premise of the show is themed around challenges set to different periods of human history within a fictional labyrinth of time and space, and is notable for the use of golf ball-sized Swarovski glass crystals as a reward for each challenge successfully completed by contestants, and lock-in conditions for contestants that ran out of time or broke a three-strikes rule on a challenge.
Sonic Labyrinth is an action-puzzle game developed by Minato Giken and published by Sega for the Game Gear in 1995. The game features Sonic the Hedgehog exploring maze-like stages from an isometric perspective. Dr. Robotnik has robbed Sonic of his trademark speed, so Sonic walks slowly but can roll into a ball and dash across the stages.
Super Monkey Ball 2 is a platform party video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega in 2002 for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the Super Monkey Ball series, and the first installment to have a storyline and to be exclusively released on a home console.
Labyrinth is a patience or card solitaire game which uses a pack of 52 playing cards. Despite the fact that the word labyrinth is synonymous with maze, this game is very different in its manner of play and dealing from the game of Maze, and should not be confused with it. Labyrinth does however have similar play to the game of Babette – both being blockades – and the spatial puzzle in which cards become available is also reminiscent of Crazy Quilt.
The R360 is a motion simulator arcade cabinet produced by Sega. It was first released in Japan in 1990, and internationally a year later. Being short for "Rotate 360", the R360 is noteworthy for its ability to spin 360 degrees in any direction on two metal axis, allowing the player to freely move as the cabinet mimics the in-game action, including the ability to turn completely upside down. A safety bar and four-point safety harness are utilized to keep players in the seat as the machine moves. An emergency stop button is also present both inside the machine and on the attendant tower. Gyroscope technology is used for the motion.
A pub game is one which is traditionally played inside or outside a pub. Most pub games date back centuries and are rooted in village culture. Many derive from older outdoor sports.
Perplexus is a 3-D ball-in-a-maze puzzle or labyrinth game enclosed in a transparent plastic sphere. By twisting and turning it, players try to maneuver a small steel ball through a complex maze along narrow plastic tracks. The maze has many steps. The number of steps ranges from 30 in the Perplexus Twist to 225 in the Perplexus 3x3 Rubik's cube Hybrid. Some levels drop the ball into a cup or a small rim to utilize its 3-D nature. Players must complete obstacles varying in difficulty to reach the end.
VG Pocket is a series of handheld dedicated game consoles built by JungleTac and sold by Performance Designed Products LLC. The VG Pocket model was the first console of its type to have a 2" backlit color LCD screen.
Cameltry (キャメルトライ) is an arcade video game released in 1989 by Taito. The player moves a ball through a maze by rotating the maze itself around the ball. It was ported to the FM Towns, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and X68000. The Super NES version was published in North America and Europe as On The Ball.
Alice's Curious Labyrinth is a hedge maze attraction at the Disneyland Park within Disneyland Paris. It opened in 1992 with the Park, and belongs to the British part of Fantasyland. A similar maze attraction, based on both the 1951 and 2010 Disney film adaptations of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, exists at Shanghai Disneyland Park.
Kwirk, known in Japan as Puzzle Boy, is a puzzle video game developed and published by Atlus in Japan on November 24, 1989, for the Game Boy. The game was later published in North America in March 1990 by Acclaim Entertainment.
Kororinpa is a video game for Nintendo's Wii video game console. It was released in Japan on December 2, 2006 as a launch title for the Wii, then in Europe on February 23, 2007 and North America on March 20, 2007.
Cherokee marbles, or five hole is a traditional game among the Cherokee people of the United States, in which players roll small stone balls between five shallow pits dug into a playing field. Today, the game is commonly played with billiard balls. The game may be played in individual or team play, and in this century, has been introduced into the curricula of students attending schools in the Cherokee Nation. There is also a national tournament held annually during the Cherokee National Holiday.
Deathmaze is a fantasy board game published by Simulations Publications (SPI) in January 1980 that falls into the general category of dungeon crawls, more specifically, dungeon games in which players enter a dungeon, massacre the dungeon dwellers and steal their treasures.
Fun House is a British children's game show, based on the American show of the same name, that aired on ITV from 24 February 1989 to 29 December 1999. It was hosted by Pat Sharp, who was also aided by twin cheerleaders, Melanie Grant supporting the red team and Martina Grant supporting the yellow team. The announcer was Gary King. The theme tune was composed by David Pringle and Bob Heatlie. In 2000, it was revealed by the BBC programme TV's Finest Failures that a spin-off of Fun House featuring adult contestants was also planned. A pilot was produced, which included Carol Smillie as a contestant, but it was ultimately never broadcast.
Ball-in-a-maze puzzles are dexterity puzzles which involve manipulating either a maze or one or several balls so that the ball or balls are maneuvered towards a goal. Toys like this have been popular since Pigs in Clover was invented by Charles Martin Crandall and then patented on September 10, 1889. The game was a craze in the United States from mid-February to May 1889, at 8 000 puzzles being produced daily according to The Waverly Free Press. It was played at home, on buses, in the street, parks, and even by US politicians. Sam Loyd falsely claimed to have invented it in an interview in 1891.
