Zoo Master

Name: Zoo Master
Programmer(s): Kevin Ryan
Publisher: Earthware
Year: 1983

Description: Zoo Master is a pretty unique arcade maze game that came out in 1983 from Earthware Computer Services. The story is actually kind of funny: some Mad Scientist has gone and let all the animals loose from their cages at the zoo, and now you're the zookeeper who has to clean up this mess. You drive around in a little truck through these maze-like zoo areas, and your job is to tranquilize all the escaped animals and track down that crazy scientist. The controls are simple - you can move in four directions and you've got a tranquilizer gun to knock out the animals. You also get four traps per zone that you can drop to catch animals, which is pretty cool. There's a good variety of animals to deal with, including bears, turtles, snakes, giraffes, elephants, and rhinos. Each one moves differently, so you have to figure out the best strategy for each type. There are also birds flying around, and if you can catch all the different types of birds in a level, you get a sweet 1000 point bonus. The tricky part is that if you touch any of the animals (except birds), you lose a life. So you have to be really careful about how you move around the maze and plan your shots. You start with three lives, and if you die, you have to restart the whole zone. The goal is to work your way south through different animal zones until you finally reach the Mad Scientist's lair, where he's dropping cages full of bears to stop you. When you finally catch him, you get 5000 points and an extra life, then the game starts over with higher difficulty.