Diamond Mine (video game)
Encyclopedia
Diamond Mine is a video game first published by MRM Software for the Acorn Electron
and BBC Micro
home computers in 1984. It was reissued by Blue Ribbon
in 1985 and ported to other systems in 1985 and 1986. Blue Ribbon also released a sequel Diamond Mine II at the same time.
The aim of the game is to guide a pipe through a maze-like mine to collect diamond
s while avoiding hitting the walls or the patrolling monsters. The player has a set length of pipe for each level. Once the pipe has started moving, it cannot stop and if it is retracted, that section of pipe is lost. If the pipe is hit by a monster or hits a wall, twice the amount of pipe is lost. Diamonds are placed sporadically in the maze and there is no way to kill the monsters.
The sequel is similar but with fundamental changes in the game play. The pipe can pause, can be retracted at any time without penalty and the walls cannot be hit. The monsters can be killed by touching them with the end of the pipe and they do not move while the pipe is being retracted. The maze is also populated by regular diamonds which more resemble the dots in a Pac-Man
maze.
Both games are similar to the 1982 arcade game
Anteater. While the maze design, limited pipe length and none stop movement make the first game more original, Diamond Mine II could be considered an Anteater clone.
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....
and BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
home computers in 1984. It was reissued by Blue Ribbon
Blue Ribbon (software house)
Blue Ribbon was the budget computer software publishing label of CDS Micro Systems.The label launched in 1985 mostly made up of games from the MRM Software back catalogue. MRM had been a label producing games for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. Blue Ribbon reissued these and also converted them...
in 1985 and ported to other systems in 1985 and 1986. Blue Ribbon also released a sequel Diamond Mine II at the same time.
The aim of the game is to guide a pipe through a maze-like mine to collect diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s while avoiding hitting the walls or the patrolling monsters. The player has a set length of pipe for each level. Once the pipe has started moving, it cannot stop and if it is retracted, that section of pipe is lost. If the pipe is hit by a monster or hits a wall, twice the amount of pipe is lost. Diamonds are placed sporadically in the maze and there is no way to kill the monsters.
The sequel is similar but with fundamental changes in the game play. The pipe can pause, can be retracted at any time without penalty and the walls cannot be hit. The monsters can be killed by touching them with the end of the pipe and they do not move while the pipe is being retracted. The maze is also populated by regular diamonds which more resemble the dots in a Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
maze.
Both games are similar to the 1982 arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
Anteater. While the maze design, limited pipe length and none stop movement make the first game more original, Diamond Mine II could be considered an Anteater clone.
External links
- Diamond Mine at Atari Mania
- Diamond Mine at Plus/4 World
- Diamond Mine II at Plus/4 World
- Diamond Mine II at Generation MSX
- MRM Software at Acorn Electron World