A-MAZE-ING
A-MAZE-ZING is a maze/action video game developed exclusively for the TI-99/4A home computer and was released in the first quarter of 1981. A-MAZE-ING was distributed on Solid State Software Command ModuleTM cartridge. Kevin Kenney was the programmer. It retailed at the time for $24.95 (USD).
A-MAZE-ING | |
---|---|
![]() A-MAZE-ZING Manual (Front Cover) | |
Publisher(s) | Texas Instruments |
Programmer(s) | Kevin Kenney |
Part# | PHM 3030 |
Format(s) | Solid State Software Command ModuleTM |
Release | 1980 (1st Quarter) |
Genre(s) | Maze, Action |
Contents
Gameplay
Options
Advertising Blurbs
Front Cover of Manual
A challenging combination of maze games to test your strategy skills. Race against time through increasingly difficult mazes filled with tempting cheese, towering obstacles, and devious cats!
Back Cover of Manual
A maze of corridors looms before you. You play a mouse who must escape the maze before the dangerous cats pounce on you! But the maze is filled with delicious cheese to tempt you and obstacles to hinder you. Your sage passage through the maze depends upon your ability to develop your skills and strategy.
Fun Fact
Originally, A-MAZE-ING was going to be bundled with [Hunt the Wumpus] and [Blasto] as a single Solid State Software Command ModuleTM cartridge. However, Kevin Kenney chose to add additional content and feature to each of the titles, making it possible to distribute each as a single product. This turned out to be advantageous for TI, since all three of these games ended up being top sellers, and brought TI more revenue than would have come in if all three would have been combined into one product. [1]
Manual
Introduction
With the A-MAZE-ING Solid State SoftwareTM Command Module, you become a mouse attempting to find your way through a maze. But this is no simple maze game! There are over 5,000 possible variations, including dangerous cats, delicious cheese, and dark mouseholes to aid or hinder your escape. You move your way through the corridors, eating the cheese pieces as you go. But be careful - the hungry cats may be lurking nearby, and a single pounce can land them beside you at any moment.
With the many options available in A-MAZE-ING, you can create a maze on almost any skill level. You can begin with the easier games and work your way up to the challenge of the more difficult mazes.
In one-player games, you can compete against yourself as well as the clock and the cats by playing a series of mazes, striving to better your time and score each game. In two-player games, you can work together with another player as you race against the clock to outwit the cunning cats, or you can race against each other and the clock as you maneuver your way through the maze.
Using a few simple keystrokes, you can replay your current maze, form a new maze with the same options, or change your options and create an entirely new maze. You can improve your strategy skills by playing the same maze over again or by challenging yourself with new, more difficult mazes. You can move the mouse on the screen by using either the Wired Remote Controllers or the console keyboard. For A-MAZE-ING, certain keys on both sides of the keyboard are designated as directional keys:
Selecting a Game Type
The first options ask whether you want to use one or two players and whether you wish to have an Escape Maze or a Cheese Hunt.
If you choose a two-player Cheese Hunt game, an additional selection appears. You can choose between a two-player competitive hunt or a two-player cooperative hunt.
One-Player Game
In a one-player game, you race against the clock. If you are playing an Escape Maze, you race for the exit, trying to get there as fast as you can. If you are playing a Cheese Hunt, you work your way through the maze, picking up ten randomly placed pieces of cheese. You must eat all ten cheese pieces before the exit appears. Then you must reach the exit before the cats catch you.
Two-Player Game
In a two-player game, you can join with another player in a race against the clock or you can race against another player as well as against the clock. In an Escape Maze, both players race for the exit. In a Cheese Hunt, you must collect the ten pieces of cheese before the exit appears.
There are two possible cheese quotas in a two-player game. In a competitive cheese hunt, each mouse must pick up five pieces of cheese. You or your opponent can eat any piece, but once either of you has eaten five pieces, you can't pick up more. After either player has eaten the quota of cheese, the exit appears. That first mouse can then exit, but the other mouse can't exit until its own quota is met.
In a cooperative cheese hunt, either player can pick up any amount of cheese. The exit appears only after all ten pieces have been eaten and success is based on the amount of time it takes both players to exit.
To add to the action in a two-player, two-cat cheese hunt, a piece of cheese on a row may disappear momentarily, if both cats and both mice are on the same row. It will reappear and can still be found and eaten normally, even when it can't be seen.