Internet Arcade: Maze of Flott

Maze of Flott is a labyrinth video game release in 1989 by Taito. Taiyo System is a software system developer and device system engineering company based in Yokohama Japan. Although founded by Micheal Kogan in 1953, the company did not majorly start manufacturing until 1972. Taito was a leading video game developer during the early days of arcade video games, releasing mega franchises such as Elevator Action, Space Invader, Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid and Qix. In 2005, Taito was acquired by Square Enix and transformed into a wholly owned subsidiary of its new owner. Currently, the company is still in operations and they own a chain of arcades in Japan called “Game Taito Stations”.

Maze of Flott is an arcade game with the basic rules and objective of a typical maze game. The player controls an automobile, finding its way through grids of buildings and collecting keys. Although the game plays relatively complex, most of the rules of the game are straightforward. The player is allowed to move and turn the automobile in any direction. A 180-degree turn is also possible during the game.
The red automobile is controlled by the player around a city in a quest for keys. While on the mission the player must be careful to avoid crashing into other moving vehicles and motorcycles that appear sometimes without warning. Unlike most automobiles the maze genre, the red car in this game is constantly in need of fuel, and the player must stop and refill intermittently. Refuelling in the stations found almost everywhere in the city, comes with a cost, the player must pay. However, to get the money needed to refuel and the keys he/she is on a mission to collect, the player must stop as different buildings around the city. Each building reveals a totally unique maze layout. Inside, the player can find traps, secret routes and treasures. Apart from the grid outside, the player has several mazes to explore in each building he/she comes across. All buildings are very likely to have a key or treasure hidden somewhere inside them, however, the player must search thoroughly.

Each stage comes with a required number of keys to collect before the player can move on to next stage. If the player does not find the number of keys needed, the stage cannot be completed. Exploring all buildings is highly recommended, as each of them has something valuable to offer the player. While some buildings may not contain keys, they contain money, bonus points, and treasures. While navigating the mazes inside the buildings, stumbling into traps can drastically reduce the player’s fuel or cause the car to be destroyed. There are open trap doors that are death traps to the red car, once the player goes through them, the car disappears and the game starts from the beginning. Outside the building, the speed of the moving vehicles increases as the player advance in level. Also, in more advanced levels, player will encounter moving cars and motorbikes more regularly, passing as insane speed.