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Wizard Of Wor

Wizard Of Wor - Japanese Title

Wizard Of Wor - marquee

Manufacturer: Bally Midway
Year: 1981
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Labyrinth/Maze
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

  • Orientation: Horizontal
  • Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
  • CRT: Color
Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Either
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player
Controls:
  • Joystick: 4-way, 8-position (up/up, down/down, left/left, right/right)
  • Buttons: 1 [Fire]

Sound:

Wizard Of Wor


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Wizard Of Wor Bezel Image
Wizard Of Wor Control Panel Image
Wizard Of Wor PCB Image


Wizard Of Wor Description

One or two players move around a variety of line-drawn mazes shooting the creatures that wander within. Eliminating all of the monsters will advance the players to the next level. Creatures called Worluks and the Wizard Of Wor himself will occasionally appear and these can be shot for bonus points.

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Cabinet Information

The power supply and PCBs are mounted on a tray that slides forwards and is accessable from the front of the cabinet.

The cocktail is a standard Bally Midway cocktail from the era. However, Bally Midway did a very strange thing for this game: the monitor is rotated 90 degrees from how it is normal viewed on the upright (a person playing the upright sees the monitor horizontally oriented; a player sitting at the cocktail sees the monitor vertically oriented). So basically, on the cocktail, you have to play the game sideways!

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs

NOTE: If anyone can reproduce these tricks/bugs on video tape, please send copy to Waleter Day of http://www.twingalaxies.com for validation. Thank you.

Depending on the ROM version of the game you have, you may be able to perform the following play for many hours:

During game play, if you are quick enough, with the power switch turn the game off and back on quickly and you will gain back all the players the game can hold: The limit is 16 players per left/right player. If the computer was playing the blue player, it will get back all 16 players. It does not matter which dungeon this is done in.

To make doing this easier, you can do the following: clear the dungeon of the worlings, then let the Worluk leave or shoot it. Then as soon as possible, take a shot for the Wizard before he appears. If you hit the Wizard before he appears, you freeze the game. The dungeon walls stay the orange sparkling effect and the sound is stuck on the sound of the players gun firing. Your players can not move but no more worlings or Worluks will appear and neither will the Wizard, so technically you have beat the game?! On old versions of this game, possibly the original ones, you can freeze the game after the Wizard appears/disappears several times. On later versions this procedure has to be done before the Wizard actually appears. And, yes, the computer player can freeze the game also. After freezing the game, turn it off and then back on quickly to regain all of your players as stated above. The left (blue) player can fire faster then the yellow player, so it is easier for the blue player to freeze the game. On old versions of the game this can be done seven or more times. On later versions, this can only be done three or four times.

Here are some bugs in this game:

  • When the dungeon counter goes to 0 (100) it will no longer count properly. The last digit will be correct, but the first digit will no longer be accurate.
  • If you are very, very fast with shooting your gun, before the Wizard appears, and you hit the spot exactly where the Wizard was going to show up, you do what is called a pre-freeze, which is quite a spectacular event. Instead of freezing everything and going into the normal sequence, the sound goes crazy, the dungeon flashes black and white several times, but the players can still move and fire their guns. The dungeon then flashes the sparkling effect on the flashing black and white walls, the dungeon flashes a solid orange, then the dungeon flashes a sparkling orange walls. The players stop moving and firing and then the dungeon flashes black and white and the sequence stops. These are by far the most interesting effects that can happen in this game, although this is quite a rare occurance.
  • If you survive to the 17th dungeon, the Wizard appears and stays on the screen for long periods of time. This is not for only part of a second, but around five seconds at a time, which is also quite a sight to see. He fires his lightning bolt every which way, until he kills a player, or a player shoots him in the dungeons that follow. From here, the Wizard's appearance time begins to shorten once again. He stays for long periods of time in the following dungeons: 18th, 43rd, 66th, 91st, 120st, 151st.
  • The Wizard's line of fire is different from that of both players. You can line up in certain areas where the wizard will shoot at you, but can not kill you with his lightning bolts.
  • The players can cancel each others shots and the Wizard of Wor's lightning bolts also.
  • If you align your player up properly and in the right area, the worlings and the Worluk have to push you back/forward into a corridor/space to kill you by shooting you or running you over. This applies to the Wizard also, if he does not shoot you or appear on top of you first.

Game Introduction

The player controlled characters are called Worriors. The elite monsters called worlings are known respectively as Burwors, Garwors and Thorwors. The bonus monsters are called Worluks and occasionally the Wizard also appears.

The game has a variety of mazes, most of which do not have names, but one of the later mazes is called "The Arena" because it has a wide open space between two walls. Another is called "The Pit" because it has no interior walls at all. The mazes all have different patterns.

Game Play

There are three aspects of the game to look for. Firstly the maze is viewed as such from above, but the player character is not. This presents the appearance of the player literally 'walking' on the walls as if the maze was orientated vertically. Secondly although in two-player mode, both players work together to clear the mazes, but you score points for shooting your partner! Thirdly, shooting the Worluk before it escapes results in the next maze being scored at double points. Sometimes, after you destroy a Worluk, the Wizard will attack and continuously teleport quickly from one part of the maze to another while hurling lightning bolts. You must shoot the Wizard as quickly as you can whenever he makes a brief appearance near you.

The joystick has two contacts in each direction; a direction contact and a movement contact. A light tap on the joystick will face you in a certain direction without moving the player. To move you just hold the joystick over in one direction.

VAPS Arcade Census

GAMES OWNED, WANTED, or FOR SALE BY MEMBERS OF THE VIDEO ARCADE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Very Common - There are 94 known instances of Wizard Of Wor owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 84 of them are original dedicated machines, and 10 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Of the 56,588 video games (3,411 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 48 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 12 VAPS members currently looking for Wizard Of Wor.

For Sale - There are 9 VAPS members with Wizard Of Wor machines for sale. There is one VAPS member with an extra Wizard Of Wor circuit board for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

Shares a great deal of technology with Gorf. For instance, you can place the Gorf RAM/ROM board in the game and see, but not play, the game. The common features include the power supply, board slots, pattern PCB, CPU PCB and RAM PCBs.

eBay Listings

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Wizard Of Wor

1. Wizard of Wor Coin-op Arcade Manual

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$6.99
 
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3. WIZARD OF WOR CLASSIC VIDEO ARCADE GAME

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$695.00
 
4. WIZARD OF WOR ARCADE GAME FULL SERVICE & REPAIR MANUAL!

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6. WIZARD OF WOR video game manual W/ SCHEMATICS

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$18.00
 
7. Wizard of Wor vintage arcade video game

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$329.00
 
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9. WIZARD OF WOR Stand-UP Arcade - Original Video Game

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 eBay Stores (Fixed Price):
 
$1,750.00
 
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Foto-Finder™

  1. The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 101; Color photo;
Wizard Of Wor - Cabinet Image

Wizard Of Wor - Cabinet Image


Wizard Of Wor - Title screen image


Wizard Of Wor - Title screen image

Wizard Of Wor - Title screen image

Wizard Of Wor - Title screen image

Wizard Of Wor - Title screen image


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