Wizard Of Wor

Wizard Of Wor Description

Cabinet Information

The cocktail is a standard Bally Midway cocktail from the era. However, Bally Midway did a very strange thing for this game: the monitor is rotated 90 degrees from how it is normal viewed on the upright (a person playing the upright sees the monitor horizontally oriented; a player sitting at the cocktail sees the monitor vertically oriented). So basically, on the cocktail, you have to play the game sideways!

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs

Depending on the ROM version of the game you have, you may be able to perform the following play for many hours:

During game play, if you are quick enough, with the power switch turn the game off and back on quickly and you will gain back all the players the game can hold: The limit is 16 players per left/right player. If the computer was playing the blue player, it will get back all 16 players. It does not matter which dungeon this is done in.

To make doing this easier, you can do the following: clear the dungeon of the worlings, then let the Worluk leave or shoot it. Then as soon as possible, take a shot for the Wizard before he appears. If you hit the Wizard before he appears, you freeze the game. The dungeon walls stay the orange sparkling effect and the sound is stuck on the sound of the players gun firing. Your players can not move but no more worlings or Worluks will appear and neither will the Wizard, so technically you have beat the game?! On old versions of this game, possibly the original ones, you can freeze the game after the Wizard appears/disappears several times. On later versions this procedure has to be done before the Wizard actually appears. And, yes, the computer player can freeze the game also. After freezing the game, turn it off and then back on quickly to regain all of your players as stated above. The left (blue) player can fire faster then the yellow player, so it is easier for the blue player to freeze the game. On old versions of the game this can be done seven or more times. On later versions, this can only be done three or four times.

Here are some bugs in this game:

• When the dungeon counter goes to 0 (100) it will no longer count properly. The last digit will be correct, but the first digit will no longer be accurate.
• If you are very, very fast with shooting your gun, before the Wizard appears, and you hit the spot exactly where the Wizard was going to show up, you do what is called a pre-freeze, which is quite a spectacular event. Instead of freezing everything and going into the normal sequence, the sound goes crazy, the dungeon flashes black and white several times, but the players can still move and fire their guns. The dungeon then flashes the sparkling effect on the flashing black and white walls, the dungeon flashes a solid orange, then the dungeon flashes a sparkling orange walls. The players stop moving and firing and then the dungeon flashes black and white and the sequence stops. These are by far the most interesting effects that can happen in this game, although this is quite a rare occurance.
• If you survive to the 17th dungeon, the Wizard appears and stays on the screen for long periods of time. This is not for only part of a second, but around five seconds at a time, which is also quite a sight to see. He fires his lightning bolt every which way, until he kills a player, or a player shoots him in the dungeons that follow. From here, the Wizard's appearance time begins to shorten once again. He stays for long periods of time in the following dungeons: 18th, 43rd, 66th, 91st, 120st, 151st.
• The Wizard's line of fire is different from that of both players. You can line up in certain areas where the wizard will shoot at you, but can not kill you with his lightning bolts.
• The players can cancel each others shots and the Wizard of Wor's lightning bolts also.
• If you align your player up properly and in the right area, the worlings and the Worluk have to push you back/forward into a corridor/space to kill you by shooting you or running you over. This applies to the Wizard also, if he does not shoot you or appear on top of you first.

Game Introduction

The game has a variety of mazes, most of which do not have names, but one of the later mazes is called "The Arena" because it has a wide open space between two walls. Another is called "The Pit" because it has no interior walls at all. The mazes all have different patterns.

Game Play

The joystick has two contacts in each direction; a direction contact and a movement contact. A light tap on the joystick will face you in a certain direction without moving the player. To move you just hold the joystick over in one direction.

CAPS/VAPS Arcade Census

Very Common - There are 110 known instances of this machine owned by Wizard Of Wor collectors. Of these, 99 of them are original dedicated machines, and 11 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

This game ranks a 61 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

Wanted - Popular - There are 15 VAPS members currently looking for Wizard Of Wor.

This game ranks a 39 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

For Sale - There are 8 VAPS members with Wizard Of Wor machines for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. [More Information]

Technical

Foto-Finder™ (books)

1. The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 101; Color photo;
2. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 101; Color photo; Price guide:

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