Play Amidar online

Amidar was one of those cabinets tucked between the big names at the back of the arcade, the one you tried on a whim and then kept feeding quarters. It looks like just another maze game, but filling in the grid box by box has a rhythm all its own.

At UsuArcade it's ready and waiting in the arcade: grab a seat, drop in a coin and start running the lines while everybody else watches how far you get.

History

Konami released Amidar in 1981, right in the middle of the maze game boom that followed Pac-Man, and Stern handled it in the United States. The name comes from amidakuji, a Japanese lottery drawn with vertical and horizontal lines that looks a lot like the playfield.

It was one of Konami's first arcade hits and it has a style you spot instantly: alternating stages with different heroes and a bouncy tune that hides how tough it gets.

How to play

You move along a grid of lanes, and every stretch you cover gets marked. Close all four sides of a box and it fills in for points. Fill the whole board without getting caught to clear the stage.

One stage you're a gorilla, the next you're a paint roller, and they keep alternating. The jump button makes every enemy hop so you can slip underneath, but you only get a few per stage. Fill the four corner boxes and, for a short while, the hunters become the hunted.

Fun facts

• The name comes from amidakuji, a Japanese ladder-style lottery.
• The hero alternates between a gorilla and a paint roller from stage to stage.
• Two players alternate on one cabinet, each with their own score.

In the arcade

Amidar was a take-turns game, and that's how it plays on UsuArcade, just online: invite your friend to your cabinet once they're in the lobby and trade turns, each on your own phone or PC. While one plays, the other watches live.

Nothing to install: it runs in your browser, gamepad supported, and every game starts with INSERT COIN, free. Everyone else in the lobby can watch and chat, and scores go up on the arcade's high score board.

FAQ