From the Digger Manual:
DIGGER is a new Gremlin/SEGA game that requires you to dig strategically placed holes within a maze format so you can capture and fill in over the invading creatures before they can attack and destroy your man.
You maneuver your man around the maze with a four-directional joystick. Two push-button controls are used for your shoveling action: one, for the DIG function and another for the FILL function. The maze format changes with every round played.
DIGGER is a Gremlin Multi -Phase game that becomes increasingly challenging as your skills improve, as you will see.
The creatures are confined behind a wall. In the first of three rounds of game play, four creatures are let out of the holding area through a gate. You
must conquer these four before advancing to the next round, where you face six creatures. Your third round has you battling eight creatures. This process is repeated and the point value increased with each three-round victory. Also, the creatures' speed increases each round. Any contact at all with the creatures will be fatal to your man.
While you are busy digging holes and entrapping creatures, the rest are behind the retaining wall scurrying back and forth. After about three minutes,
the gates at each end will open and all of. the remaining creatures will stream into the play area at once. However, a skillful player will conquer all of the creatures of each round and the gate will not be a threat.
A DOUBLE SCORE BONUS is awarded If you capture and fill in over the RED creature before any of the GREEEN ones. But, this must be the FIRST creature
defeated, or the RED creature becomes GREEN and no bonus is awarded.
The point value per creature increases with each three-round phase. The first phase awards 300 points per creature, decreasing to 100 points if not
filled over promptly. The second phase awards 500 points per creature, decreasing to 300. And, the third phase awards 700 points, decreasing to 500 points.
A 1000 POINT BONUS is given if you capture four creatures in a row at full point value during any one round.
An EXTRA MAN is given at 5000 points.
When a creature is captured, eight squeaking sounds are heard before the creature escapes from the hole. Five squeaks are required to cover a creature,
so you must hurry to the hole and FILL before the fourth squeak, or the creature Will emerge and devour your man.
If your FILL is incomplete and another creature passes along the same path, it will pull the other out and your man may be eaten. If a hole is incomplete, It will delay creatures somewhat, depending on the size of the partially dug hole.
On the DIGGER upright and Mini-Video games, two players alternate turns. A player loses his turn when the round is complete, not just when he loses a man.
On the slimline and cocktail tables, DIGGER can be a two-player SIMULTANEOUS PLAY, or ALTERNATE PLAY, as described above. In the SIMULTANEOUS PLAY option, the sum of Player 1 and Player 2 scores are used as one final score. The game play is the same as one-player and either man may FILL a hole, regardless which one dug it. If you select ALTERNATE PLAY action, it is the same as the upright or Mini-Video.
A unique feature of Greml i n/SEGA's DIGGER game is the personalization of HI SCORES. At the end of the game in which the highest score of the machine is
topped, the player uses the DIG and FILL buttons to run through the alphabet selecting his three initials. These will remain until that score is topped by another player. In SIMULTANEOUS PLAY, Player 1 enters his initials first, and then Player 2 enters his. Both initials are displayed until their score is beat.
1 Player Start 1
2 Players Start 2
Coin 1 5
P1 Up UP
P1 Down DOWN
P1 Left LEFT
P1 Right RIGHT
P1 Button 1 LCONTROL or Mouse B1
P1 Button 2 LALT or Mouse B3
Released
Sep, 1980
Platform
Arcade
Developed by
Denki Onkyō Corporation
Published by
Sega/Gremlin
Gameplay
Arcade
Perspective
Top-down
Interface
Direct control
Genre
Action
Visual
Fixed / flip-screen
Description
Digger is a top down maze game in which you must destroy a group of deadly creatures that resemble spiders. At the start of each level, spiders are randomly placed and wander quickly about the maze. One of these spiders is red. You can dig holes in the floor, which can be used to momentarily trap spiders but also prevents you from passing that point in the maze. If you fill in a hole while a spider is trapped, then it is killed and you receive points. If the first spider you kill on a level is the red spider, then you win bonus points.
If you take too long to kill all of the spiders, then a wave of additional spiders is released from the side of the screen. You start the game with five lives, but contact with any spider results in losing one of them. The levels alternate between either four, six, or eight starting spiders, and different maze configurations. The spider speed also slightly increases at higher levels. The game is very similar to the developer's earlier game Heiankyo Alien.
From Mobygames.com. Original Entry