Wizard of Wor review: the maze where your friend is also your rival

Two little soldiers in armor stand at the bottom corners of a dungeon. Monsters prowl the corridors. Both soldiers have guns, and both guns can hit the other soldier. The machine plays a few familiar notes, a wizard's voice sneers at you, and the game begins. Wizard of Wor is simple to look at and very interesting to share.

Partners, until they are not

The design idea that makes it special is in the multiplayer. The two Worriors can cooperate to defeat the monsters or compete for the most points, and the game does not force either. You can cover your friend's back for three mazes and then shoot him in the fourth to grab a big kill. He will remember. That social tension is built right into the rules.

Electronic Games praised the cooperative mode as "a unique playing experience," and anyone who played it with a sibling knows why. It was also, quietly, a lesson in trust.

Wizard of Wor never told you who your enemy was. It let you decide.

Invisible monsters and a radar

The mazes are filled with Burwors, Garwors and Thorwors. A radar at the bottom of the screen shows where the monsters are, so you are always glancing down to find the one around the corner. The tunnels on the sides carry you, and the monsters, to the opposite side of the screen.

Kill everything and a Worluk appears. Catch it and it doubles the points for the next maze. After that, the Wizard himself might show up. As the game goes on the mazes become more open, which sounds like a gift and is actually a trap, because there is nowhere left to hide.

Dragnet and a wizard with a mouth

Every maze begins with the famous opening notes of Dragnet, the TV theme American kids knew from reruns. Then the Wizard talks, mocking you through speech synthesis. The sound design gave a small dark maze a lot of personality, and from across a room you always knew when someone was playing it.

What it meant back then

Wizard of Wor was a two player cabinet in the best American sense. You walked into the arcade at the mall or a pizza place with a friend, you each put in a quarter, and you stood side by side arguing. It even showed up in the 1983 film Joysticks, which tells you how much it belonged to that scene. Kids remember the voice, but they remember the friendships it tested even more.

Playing it today

It is still great with two people and a little thin alone. The maze play is solid, the radar trick still works, and the choice between helping and betraying is as funny as ever. Find someone to play with, agree to be a team, and see how many mazes it takes before one of you breaks the deal.