LOSE YOUR MARBLES GAME TV
Now that video games have replaced the bulky games of the past, you can compete in a similar manner on a TV or monitor. This in itself was hard enough, but making the contest even more challenging were the holes that lined the pathway falling in a hole would end your game. The object of the game was to ever so slightly turn the knobs so that the marble would follow the path that was painted on the surface of the labyrinth.
To begin the game, a marble would be placed at the location labeled Start. This game of dexterity had two knobs, each one tilting the top level of the wooden "table" in a direction - left/right and forward/back. When I was younger, I had a toy called a labyrinth.
A bit short (there are only six levels), but fun nonetheless! True, some of the secret short-cuts and tricks are missing from this version, but the pseudo-3-D visuals, snappy audio, and originality found in Marble Madness greatly outweigh its short-comings. Marble Madness is a good looking translation of the quarter-munching coin-op (masterfully animated and programmed by Rare over in the U.K.) that also captures many of the game's features like a two-player simultaneous mode. That's important since you receive a hefty bonus at the end of the game's sixth level for quick hands! In your quest for the goal line which rests at the end of each course, you can take advantage of a number of traps and short-cuts that can cut your track time in half. You must also contend with an odd assortment of equally absurd creatures that range from "steelies" that knock you off course to acid pools to disappearing floors!
In the Milton Bradley Nintendo version of this Atari Games arcade classic, you must maneuver a marble over, around and through some of the most insane three-dimensional mazes ever created.