Mouse Maze
Group: Multiplayer • Author: DJ Sures
Created 2026-11-13 • Updated 2026-11-13Up to four mice share one hedge maze with four hungry cats. Eat every crumb to clear the maze before the cats catch you.
You can find Mouse Maze in the Multiplayer category. To run this, look in the Internet Adapter or Headless menu on the NABU/MAME and navigate to the Multiplayer channel category and select Mouse Maze.
Up to four mice share one hedge maze with four hungry cats. Eat every crumb to clear the maze before the cats catch you. Grab a piece of cheese and the cats panic for a few seconds, which is your chance to tag them and send them running home for big points. Every crumb counts, so race your friends to them. The cats get quicker with every maze.
Ways to play
- Online (up to 4 mice): Join a maze that's already playing, or open your own. You're in straight away, even in the middle of a game. Out of lives? Press fire to jump back in. Leave whenever you like and the others play on.
- Alone: Just you and the cats.
- 2 players, 1 NABU: Two mice on one NABU, with joystick 1 and joystick 2.
Controls
| Action | Joystick | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Steer your mouse | Stick | Arrow keys |
| Play again after a game over | Fire | Space |
| Leave the game | — | ESC |
Your mouse keeps running until it hits a hedge. Hold a direction just before a corner and it turns there. You can turn around at any time.
Points
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| Crumb | 10 |
| Cheese | 50 |
| Tagging a frightened cat | 200, then 400, 800 and 1600 for each extra cat on the same cheese |
| Cookie | 100 × the maze number (up to 900) |
You start with 3 mice and get an extra one at 10,000 points.
The cats
Each cat has its own idea about who to chase:
| Cat | Colour | How it hunts |
|---|---|---|
| Smokey | gray | Goes straight for the nearest mouse |
| Snow | white | Heads to where the nearest mouse is going, to cut it off |
| Ginger | orange | Hunts whoever has the most points |
| Moss | green | Chases from far away, but gets shy up close |
Now and then all four wander off to their own corners for a moment, which is a good time to grab crumbs.
Cheese
Each maze has four pieces of cheese, one near each corner. Eat one and every cat turns blue and runs. Touch a blue cat to tag it, and it runs back to the cat house as a pair of eyes. The cats flash white just before the cheese wears off. Cheese wears off faster in later mazes.
Cookies
A cookie appears under the cat house twice in each maze. It's worth more in every new maze, but it doesn't stay long.
Getting caught
When a cat catches you, you lose a mouse and your next one comes out of your mouse hole. It blinks for a moment, and while it blinks the cats can't catch it. When you run out of mice, your score shows OUT. Press fire to start again with 3 fresh mice. If nobody else is playing, a new game starts at the first maze.
Clearing a maze
When every crumb and cheese is gone, the maze is clear. Everyone goes back to their holes, all the food comes back, and the next maze starts with quicker cats. Your score and mice carry on.
The top of the screen
The top two rows show each mouse's colour, name, score and mice left. An empty slot shows OPEN, so another player can still join.
Tips
- Save the cheese until the cats are close, then tag as many as you can for 1600 points.
- The tunnels at the sides of the maze wrap around to the other side.
- Ginger always hunts the leader. If you're winning, watch your back.
- In a busy maze, the cats chase whoever is nearest. Let your friends draw them away.
- A blinking mouse can't be caught, so use those moments to dash through danger.
Screenshots
