{{Infobox video game , title = Diamond Mine , image = , caption = , developer = Mike Williams , publisher = MRM Software

Blue Ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon ...

, designer = , series = , engine = , released = 1984 , genre =

Maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

, modes =

Single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

, platforms =

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

Commodore 16 The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was ...

/ Plus/4 ''Diamond Mine'' is a

maze video game Maze game is a video game genre description first used by journalists during the 1980s to describe any game in which the entire playing field is a maze. Quick player action video game, action is required to escape monsters, outrace an opponent, o ...

first published by MRM Software for the

and

home computers in 1984. ''Diamond Mine'' was reissued by

in 1985 and ported to other systems in 1985 and 1986. Blue Ribbon released a sequel, ''Diamond Mine II'', at the same time. Both games are similar to the 1983 game '' Oil's Well'', which itself is a re-themed version of the 1982 ''

Anteater Anteater is a common name for the four extant mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

Gameplay

The aim of the game is to guide a pipe through a maze-like mine to collect

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

s while avoiding hitting the walls or the patrolling monsters. The player has a set length of pipe for each level. Once the pipe has started moving, it cannot stop and if it is retracted, that section of pipe is lost. If the pipe is hit by a monster or hits a wall, twice the amount of pipe is lost. Diamonds are placed sporadically in the maze and there is no way to kill the monsters.

Legacy

In 1985, Blue Ribbon published a sequel from the same programmer, ''Diamond Mine II''. The screen layout is even closer to ''

'' than the original. The pipe can pause, can be retracted at any time without penalty and the walls cannot be hit. The monsters can be killed by touching them with the end of the pipe and they do not move while the pipe is being retracted. The maze is also populated by regular diamonds which more resemble the dots in a ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

'' maze.

Gameplay

Legacy

External links