A digging game with diamonds and boulders
Rock Digger in Games by Zaweba: dig through six scrolling caves for diamonds while boulders tumble and fireflies roam. Original, free and offline.
Rock Digger is a digging game on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba. You tunnel through six scrolling caves for diamonds while boulders tumble and fireflies roam, then escape through the exit before the time runs out. It is an original game in the style of a 64K home computer, free and offline.
It's part action game and part puzzle, and the boulders are what make it both.
Digging and collecting
Use the arrow keys or WASD to dig. As you move, you tunnel through the earth. Collect enough diamonds to open the exit, then get out before the time runs out.
Hold Space or Z with a direction to grab without moving. That lets you collect a diamond or clear earth next to you without stepping into the space, which is very useful when stepping in would be dangerous.
Boulders that fall
Boulders and diamonds fall, and they roll off each other. That's the heart of the game. When you dig out the earth beneath a boulder, it falls. So don't stand under one that's moving. Before you dig, look up: what's above the space you're about to open?
You can push single boulders sideways. That's handy for clearing a path or for moving a boulder out of the way before you dig beneath it.
Fireflies and butterflies
Fireflies explode when they touch you, so keep your distance. Butterflies are different: drop a boulder on a butterfly and it turns into diamonds. That's a clever way to get diamonds you couldn't reach otherwise, and it's often the key to collecting enough to open the exit.
When you're stuck
Sometimes a boulder falls in the wrong place and blocks your only path. If you're stuck, R lets you start again, but it costs a life. Better to think ahead and avoid getting stuck, but it's there when you need it.
Thinking before you dig
The best players in Rock Digger dig slowly at first, looking at the whole cave before they move. Plan a route that collects diamonds without bringing boulders down on yourself. Dig from the side of a boulder rather than beneath it when you can.
Six caves is a good journey. Each one scrolls, so there's more to the cave than you see at once, and each asks you to read a new arrangement of earth, boulders and diamonds. The early caves teach you how boulders behave; the later ones test whether you've learned. Your best score waits on the tile, so there's always a reason to go back and try a cave again with a better plan.
Opening Rock Digger
Find Rock Digger on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, or press Ctrl+F and type digger. The title card explains how to play, F1 explains it again, Esc pauses and F11 fills the screen with the cave. The game pauses itself if you switch windows. Your best score and plays are kept on the game's tile in a scores file on your own PC, and there are no adverts and no accounts. If you like a maze with danger in it, Maze Muncher on the same shelf has four gloops to dodge instead of boulders.
