1981 · Maze

Scarfman

A maze game for early home computer systems from The Cornsoft Group.

Released: 1981
Platforms: TRS-80 TRS-80 Color Computer TRS-80 Model I
Genres: Maze
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Themes: Action
Country: United States

About

Scarfman is a clone of Pac-Man written by Philip A. Oliver for the TRS-80 computer and published by The Cornsoft Group in 1981. A version for the TRS-80 Color Computer followed in 1982 as Color Scarfman.

Oliver also wrote the Enhanced BASIC Compiler for the TRS-80 Model III and 4.

Keywords

ghosts
maze

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls Scarfman, eating the dots in a maze filled with them along with five power capsules, avoiding the five monsters that roam the maze. Unlike Pac-Man, there are five monsters instead of four. Eating a power pill causes monsters to lower their eyes, indicating that they're vulnerable. The eyes shift to the normal position when the pill's effect wears off. In Color Scarfman, eating a power pill causes the ghosts to remain vulnerable—indicated by turning blue—until eaten or the level ends.

Reception

Dan Ekblaw reviewed Scarfman in The Space Gamer number 54. Ekblaw commented that "Overall, I would say that Scarfman's defects outweigh its good points by far. I've found that this game loses its novelty after a few weeks and will spend the rest of its days sitting on a shelf".

In a 2012 retrospective, Gamasutra wrote that the "chirp-chirp-chirp chomping sound effect is maddening. But it does play like Pac-Man, more or less".