Clearing the maze in Maze Muncher, Games by Zaweba

Four gloops share the maze with you in Maze Muncher, and each of them hunts you in its own sneaky way. Your job is to gobble every dot while they close in. Eat a flashing pill and the tables turn for a while. It's an EGA-style maze chase, drawn after early-90s PC graphics, on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, and every maze has a new layout, with the gloops getting faster as you go.

Steering through the maze

Arrow keys or WASD steer. Press early and you turn at the next opening, so you don't have to hit the key at exactly the right moment, just before it. With the mouse, hold the button on the side you want to go.

That press-early rule is the most useful thing to learn. Rather than reacting at each junction, decide where you're going next and press ahead of time. It makes your movement smoother and leaves your attention free for the gloops, which is where it needs to be.

Meet the gloops

Each gloop behaves differently. Grumble hunts you. Sneak cuts in ahead. Wobble flanks. Dozy dawdles. Knowing that makes the chase readable. Grumble will be on your tail, Sneak will try to get in front of where you're heading, Wobble comes at you from the side, and Dozy is the least pressing of the four.

When you're being chased, it's often Sneak that catches you out, because it aims ahead of you, so a sudden change of direction is worth trying when it's closing in. Keep an eye on all four rather than just the nearest; the one that catches you is often the one you weren't watching.

Pills and blue gloops

A flashing pill turns the gloops blue. While they're blue, you can munch them, for up to 1600 points. That turns them from hunters into targets. A pill eaten while gloops are close is more valuable than one eaten when they're far away, because you're near enough to catch them.

So it can pay to leave a pill alone until the gloops have gathered nearby. It's a small gamble, since waiting with gloops around you is risky, but it's how the big scores are made.

Fruit and side tunnels

There's fruit to grab for a bonus, and side tunnels let you slip from one side of the maze to the other. The tunnels are a good escape when a gloop is closing in, and they can buy you a moment to regroup and plan your next move.

A new maze every time

Eat every dot to clear the maze. Since every maze has a new layout and the gloops get faster, each one needs a fresh look rather than a memorised route. Leaving a few dots in an awkward corner until last can be costly, because you'll have to go back for them with the gloops about, so try to clear areas fully as you pass through them.

Esc pauses, F11 fills the screen, and the title card and F1 cover the controls. Games by Zaweba keeps your best score and plays on your PC, so each maze you clear shows up in a number you can try to beat. Everything is drawn and made in code, with no adverts and nothing online.

Press your turns early, learn your gloops, and save the pills for when they're close.