Lock 'n' Chase

Lock 'n' Chase was created at Data East in 1981, and the Atari 2600 edition came courtesy of Mattel Electronics. It is a maze chase from the era when, after Pac-Man's triumph, the whole industry hunted for its own twist on the formula - and this twist is one of the cleverer ones.

Here the player stands on the wrong side of the law: you control a little thief who gathers coins in a maze while evading the police. The game's trump card is its doors, which can be shut behind you for a moment to cut off pursuers - a small mechanism that turns passive fleeing into active tactics.

The Atari 2600 version had to simplify the arcade original, as the console fell far short of arcade horsepower. Yet home conversions of exactly this kind of chase game formed the backbone of console catalogues in the early eighties, and for many households they were the first encounter with the genre.

Data East would later become famous for dozens of arcade machines, but Lock 'n' Chase recalls its early period, when success hinged on one good idea hung on a proven maze. Mattel made the game famous chiefly on its own Intellivision console, where it was a catalogue draw; the version for the rival Atari 2600 was part of a bold strategy of publishing for competitors' machines as well. The console wars of the day had this lesser-known face too.

Since this entry is marked playable, you can start the thieving chase directly in your browser on OldGame.cz and slam those doors on the police from your own keyboard.