Death Pit (1985)

The aim of the game is for you to collect as much gold as possible, and get it and the gem back to the tent You will only score points for these items when they are actually dropped in the tent NOTE that the game ends when you drop the gem in the tent, so if you want to acquire the maximum score you should leave this until the end At the start of the game you are at the entrance to the mines You will find the tent to the right, your Landrover to the left, and a number of oxygen bottles, batteries and spades scattered at your feet You will already be holding and using 1 oxygen bottle and 1 battery displayed on the right of the screen; and m addition to these you will be carrying 1 spare oxygen bottle. 1 spare battery and 1 spade which are displayed at the bottom of the screen You may choose to carry 4 items with you at a time To pick up another item move your man above and slightly to the left of the item you wish to select and then press the SPACE-BAR to enter selection mode You should then move the Right or Left keys or joystick position so that the red bar at the bottom of your screen moves to an empty position Press T or the Fire-button to take the obiect If you press SPACE-BAR by mistake and do not want to pick anything up. just press the Up key or move the joystick up to exit the selection mode To drop an object move your man to a clear piece of ground, press the SPACE-BAR. then move the red bar under the item you wish to drop and press T or the Fire-button To swop an object that you are carrying for one on the ground, first move above the object, press SPACE-BAR. then move the red bar under the item you wish to swop and press T or the Fire-button A number of obstacles await you in the caves Some of these, like the green slime, the spiders that come down on a thread, and the dragon's flames, are instantly fatal Others, like the bats, the scorpions, and the spiders that scurry along the corridors may be killed if you are carrying a spade when you run into them. Note that when you are climbing the ladders you cannot also use your spade and so may be killed To prevent this you should stop your man climbing and face sideways while you are fightmg-off the attack Some of the tunnels are flooded, and you can only pass through these while you still have some oxygen in your tank (displayed on the right of the screen). Your air supply goes down steadily while you are in the water If you run out of oxygen when you are submerged you drown Similarly the battery of your pit lamp will slowly be discharging all the time you are m the caves Your lamp will fade as soon as your batteries have run out. in which case you will die As soon as either a battery or an oxygen cylinder on the right of your screen is empty it is automatically replaced by a spare one from your load, providing you have one left Note that when your TIME' is up lie: when you have been playing for 9999 time units) the game ends, so don't hang around just killing the monsters, as this won't give you a very high score TREASURE There are 20 gold bars which are coloured yellow, and scattered throughout the mine workings There is only one gem which is hidden deep m the mines beyond the last of the dragons Getting it back to your tent is your ultimate aim If you are killed while carrying the diamond it will be returned to its original position m the caves Just carry these up to the tent and they will automatically be taken from your load and added to your score LIVES You get five lives per game Each time one of your lives is lost you will be shown how many are left, and then be returned to your last position, with all the objects that you were carrying at the time. SCORE GEM (in the tent)........................................................ 1000 GOLD BAR (m the tent...................................................... 100 MONSTER (when killed)...................................................... 10

• Release Date: December 31, 1985
• Developer: Durell Software