For the next several weeks, I’m introduce a new feature here at skkra.net… Wor Wednesdays!
Wizard of Wor is an absolutely fantastic old school arcade game that I’ve become totally obsessed with over the past year. In an effort to educate others about how to play, and hopefully spread the joy of this amazing game, I’ll try and explain everything I know.
There is very little high-level information out there regarding this game, and so a majority of what I’ve learned is simply from grinding for the past several months, using quarter after quarter at the arcade in trial and error sessions. Well, lets start at the beginning, shall we?
Wizard of Wor is an old school arcade game with the same goal as almost everything made in the early 80s: get the high score. The game is a single-board corridor shooter, as shown in the image above. Maneuver your Worrior around the map and avoid monsters. They start off moving slowly in early levels, but it quickly researches the point where they’re moving at max speed right at the start of a map.
You are much, much slower than max speed monsters. This makes Wor a very defensive game, where you must quickly make your way to a nearby strategic position and defend it. Obviously, this is much easier said than done, as Wor is a difficult and unforgiving game. That said, it’s one of the most rewarding arcade games I’ve ever played, and well worth the time to learn it.
Next Wor Wednesday, we’ll cover the basics of early movement and positioning for the initial map set.
As of this writing, I currently have the high score at the Philadelphia Barcade, which is also the highest Wor score in the entire chain by a significant margin. https://barcadephiladelphia.com/games/high-scores/
With Wor Wednesdays, I want to spread the love of this game, and hopefully teach YOU how to get a high score! My current goal is to get into the Top 5 worldwide leaderboard at Twin Galaxies. https://www.twingalaxies.com/game/wizard-of-wor
The 5th highest score sits at 161,200. My current high score is 40,000 points under that, so while I do have some work to do, I believe this is completely attainable in the next few months!