Monster Maze (1982) is a first-person action-maze game developed by Robert Schilling and published by Epyx for the Atari 8-bit and VIC-20 systems. Drawing inspiration from Pac-Man, the game delivers a tense twist by shifting the familiar maze-running mechanic into a claustrophobic, first-person perspective. Players awaken trapped in a nightmarish labyrinth, stalked by grotesque mutated monsters that hunger for human flesh. Scattered throughout the maze are gold bars to collect for points, and glowing vitamin pills that temporarily turn the tables—empowering the player to destroy monsters by colliding with them. Without the vitamin effect active, any such contact results in the loss of one of the player’s nine lives. The game spans 16 increasingly difficult levels populated with a total of 48 monsters and an equal number of vitamins. Once a level’s objectives are completed, the player can descend deeper into the maze via a central hole, each new floor ramping up the challenge. Though technically simple, Monster Maze stood out in its era for its unusual perspective and eerie atmosphere. Reviewers noted that the pacing is slower than typical arcade games, with monsters accelerating only as the player moves—adding an element of strategic hesitation. Despite modest graphics, the immersive point of view, combined with a horror motif and collectible system, made Monster Maze a unique entry in the early 1980s action-strategy landscape.

This was a cute first-person pacman-esque maze crawler where you gobbled up vitamins while searching for gold.  Why is gold always guarded by monsters?  Do they really care about the gold?  They can’t eat it, unless they’re gold-eating monsters?  Anyway, there’s a fun feel to this game.   Given that it was a game for computers with very limited memory, it was quite a remarkable feat. But honestly it’s also reminiscent of some of the coding you’ll do in Computer Science 101 classes today, or Maybe CS102.  Not to say that it wouldn’t be cool to revive it, but the scope and audience has to be considered.  It’s a cute name and a cute monster, and if you’d like to somehow integrate it into a curriculum or do something else fun with the title, please reach out to us.