| Maze Craze: A Game of Cops n’ Robbers | |
| Developer: | Atari, Inc. |
| Designer: | Rick Maurer |
| Publisher: | Atari, Inc. |
| Released: | 1980 |
| Genre: | Maze |
| Modes: | Single-player, two player competitive |
| Platforms: | Atari 2600 |
Maze Craze: A Game of Cops n’ Robbers is a 4K cartridge for the Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the Atari 2600) 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 re-titled Maze Craze as Maze Mania for its Tele-Games system.[1]
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.
Maurer had been working on a clone of Space Invaders 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 Maze cartridge by Mike Glass, resulting in Maze Craze.[2] He later completed his version of Space Invaders, which was officially licensed from Taito and became the killer app for the console.[3]