With all of the major technological advances in the gaming world, it is easy to forget how much fun there was in the simplicity that early games offered. And perhaps one of the simplest utilized the age-old maze, much like one would find in a puzzle book. When Sega introduced The Amazing Maze in 1976, there were no zombies to be found, no complicated controls to master – just a simple joystick and a black and white graphic image of a relatively complex maze. Sound easy? Think again.

What may seem like a simple task of navigating one’s way through a maze was made far more nerve-wracking by the introduction of two elements – a timer and an opponent. For this was not a leisurely stroll. The clock was ticking and there was an opponent to beat. One or two players could play the game, and if you chose to go at it solo, the computer provided the competition. It was far easier to battle another frazzled human than take on the computerized opponent, for while it moved slower than a human counterpart could, it also never broke into a cold sweat watching the timer count down. In fact, it never made a mistake. No wrong turns into a dead end, no miscalculations at all. And that made your task all the more frustrating. With each quarter, the game offered up three distinct mazes to conquer and players had to successfully navigate all three for the win.

With primitive graphics by today’s standards, simple controls, and nary a zombie or fire-breathing dragon in sight, The Amazing Maze was a perfect example of a video game in it’s most simple form. Simple - but highly addicting. They just don’t make them like that anymore.