Play Wizard of Wor Online

Summary

Wizard of Wor drops you into a series of line‑drawn mazes where you control a little square‑shaped hero called a Worrior. In solo mode you hunt down the three monster types—Burwors, Garwors and Thorwors—while dodging their relentless charge, and a radar strip at the bottom keeps tabs on their positions. When you clear a level a flashing Worluk darts across the screen; shooting it not only nets bonus points but also doubles the score for the next maze, and if you manage to kill the Worluk the titular Wizard of Wor will pop in, teleporting erratically and hurling lightning bolts that must be shot before they hit you.

Two‑player action adds a mischievous twist: each player’s Worrior is a different colour (yellow on the right, blue on the left) and you can actually fire at your partner for extra points, even as you cooperate by backing each other into corners and covering the open corridors. Some of the later stages have memorable names—"The Arena" with a wide central void and "The Pit" with no interior walls at all—making positioning a real tactical challenge.

The cabinet’s hardware is a relic of its era: a Votrax SC‑01 speech chip gives the Wizard his taunting voice, while the joystick features a separate tap‑to‑face direction and a hold‑to‑move mechanic that feels oddly precise. On cocktail cabinets the monitor is rotated 90°, so you literally play the game sideways. All these quirks helped Wizard of Wor earn a reputation as a standout multiplayer maze shooter in the early ’80s arcade scene.

Storyline

Wizard of Wor is an arcade maze shooter where the player‑controlled characters, known as Worriors, must eliminate every monster by shooting them. In a single‑player session the lone Worrior roams the corridors, but the game truly shines in two‑player mode. Player 1 controls a yellow Worrior positioned on the right side of the screen, while Player 2 pilots a blue Worrior on the left. When both are playing they can even fire at each other, which awards bonus points and can strip the opponent of a life. Skilled duos often adopt a back‑to‑back strategy—tucking into a corner and covering each other’s blind spots—to survive the onslaught and clear the maze together.