The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
Features of Digger are similar to those in the arcade games Mr. Do! and Dig Dug. The player is placed in an underground maze and can dig horizontal and vertical tunnels through it.
At least one tunnel already exists at the start of play. At various points on the board are emeralds (usually in clusters) and bags of gold. Monsters (initially in the "nobbin" form) appear at the top-right corner. If earth is excavated from under a gold bag, then the bag will wobble for a few seconds and then drop; if it falls more than one row, it will break open after falling, releasing gold, which can be collected.
Reception
Creative Computing in 1984 said that Digger "combines the best aspects of Pac-Man and Dig-Dug". Praising its graphics and sound, the magazine concluded that "it never loses its luster even after hours of play. Digger strikes a rich vein in a mountain of games".
Legacy
An enhanced remake titled Digger HD was developed by Creat Studios and released on October 1, 2009 for PlayStation 3.
Multiple unauthorized versions and fan-remakes have been released, most of which still have Digger in the name. In 1998, Rob Sleath released the game under GNU GPL and Andrew Jenner created a free-software of the game, Digger Remastered, by reverse engineering the original game. Jenner noted that technically, the copyright might be still owned by Windmill, but that company is no longer selling the product, which he considered abandonware. In 2000, Millennium Digger: The Artful Machine was released by Alawar Entertainment.
