Internet Arcade: Diamond Run

Diamond Run is a maze or labyrinth video game by KH Video. The arcade game was released in 1989. The original coin-op machine comes with a 4-way joystick for only one player used as movement control. Diamond Rush is displayed on a horizontal screen with a standard resolution, the play area can be seen from the top down perspective. The game can be played by the maximum number of 2 players, however, both players have to play alternatively.

In a quick and calculate dash for pure diamonds, you must find your way through the tunnel to find your gems. The more gems you collect, the more you points you score. However, there are obstacles, as you dig deep into the ground you have drop rocks on red monsters and spiders infesting the play area. Apart from the red monster and spider, there are also bombs in the play area and when your character run into them, they can explode and end the game.

From an aerial view, you can see a clear view of the maze, your character who you have to control around the maze. Your character starts the game with 3 lives, and when it loses all, the game ends and you have to start from the beginning. Some of the dangers your character encounter include getting touched by monsters and being squashed by rocks in the tunnel. As you move through the yellow area in the tunnel, the path is cleared and you can access all the corners of the play area. Asides all these, your character can also be affected if it stays close to an exploding bomb. Also, gems close to spiders are tricky to collect, as some of them can be poisonous and can lead to the death of your character.

Monsters and spiders will try to follow your movement in the maze, you must calculate each move you make before controlling your character. Diamonds are mostly hidden between rocks and close to monsters, move quickly as possible and collect the gems before the rocks fall on your character or the monsters run into you. When you clear a path below the rock, you run a risk of getting squashed by it if you stay under the rock. Squash spiders and monsters, clear the path between them and the rock above so as to allow the rock to fall. When a rock squashes a monster, a cluster of rocks and gems appear in the cleared area.

A health bar is displayed at the bottom of the maze, the bar reduces each time you are squashed by rocks or make contact with spiders and monsters. Diamond Run is made up of infinite levels and each level is displayed as “Scenes”. In each scene, the gems you can collect are diamonds, emeralds, and green cheese before dashing out of the scene through the exit door. The exit is the door is a small arch door displayed on the screen, the position of the exit door differs in each scene. Each scene comes in a unique layout, until scene 60 where the former scenes start reoccurring.

Each diamonds are worth different counts of gems, diamonds are worth 3 gems, while emeralds are worth 1 gem. To conclude a scene, you have to collect a total of 60 or 100 gems, depending on how advanced the scene is. On each screen, the availability of gems and potential dangers your character can run into differs. While diamonds can’t fall and kill your character, emeralds are capable of cascading and squashing it. Therefore, the best strategy is to mine emeralds from above so as to avoid accidents.