| Thief | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Pacific Novelty |
| Publisher(s) | Pacific Novelty |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Maze |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Arcade system | Z80 with custom board set |
Thief is a 1981 arcade video game that is extremely similar to Pac-Man.
The player operates a car being pursued by several blue police cars, in a maze that is supposed to represent city streets. There are eight mazes in all, which change every level in a set order, then repeat starting with the ninth screen. The ninth through sixteenth levels are identical to the first through eighth, except the cars all move faster and the dollar signs (see next paragraph) don't last as long. After that, the game loops back to Level 9, even identifying it as such (i.e., the seventeenth stage says "Level 9 completed!" when cleared). Mazes can have up to three side tunnels that the cars can use to go from one side of the screen to the other, but a few have no tunnels at all.