Prodigy Lives! Play MadMaze On the Web
August 4th, 2006 by Benj Edwards
When I was but a wee lad, I begged my father to sign me up for Prodigy. I loved BBSes and wanted to try Prodigy so badly. On Christmas 1992, I finally got my wish: an orange cardboard box emblazoned with a blue star appeared under the Christmas tree. One hour (and one father's credit card charge) later, I was online. Overall, I was mostly underwhelmed with the service and my subscription didn't last long, but there was one thing I really liked about it: the games.
Many of you probably know of Prodigy, a pre-"popular Internet" era commercial dial-up online service that utilized copious amounts of NAPLPS graphics in its client interface. And one of the best applications of this rarely used, bandwidth- friendly graphics protocol was Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan's very popular Prodigy adventure game, MadMaze.
Thanks to the hard work of Russ Brown, nostalgiaphiles like me can relive their glory days with MadMaze-II, a meticulous recreation of the original MadMaze game on the web via HTML. It's been online since 2001, but I just stumbled across it recently and thought I'd share it with you. MadMaze-II plays almost exactly like the original; the only down side is that it requires Internet Explorer to play. Still, if there was ever a reason to dust off IE (for those of you who have gone on to greener pastures), this is it.
I love the innocent graphical style of MadMaze so much that I've even created a desktop background based on the MadMaze artwork. It's available in two sizes: 1024×768 | 1280×1024.
Here are some more screenshots from the game:
Luckily, you can save your progress on the maze screen at any time. You only get one "save slot" though, so use it carefully.
[Update - 07/31/2011: I changed the links pointing to MadMaze II from "http://pages.prodigy.net/rdbrownmsb/MadMaze2/" to its new location. AT&T shut down the "Prodigy Personal Web Pages" service that hosted MadMaze II as of June 1st, 2011.]
[Update - 02/19/2013: The author of MadMaze-II, Russell D. Brown, passed away on July 1st, 2012. In 2011, I asked Russell to send me the code to MadMaze-II in case the game ever went down. Well, it has, so I have set up a mirror of the game on vintagecomputing.com at this address: http://www.vintagecomputing.com/madmaze/. As far as I can tell, it seems to be working fine. I have updated the links in the article above to this new location. I also wrote a larger post about this update.]
August 4th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Prodigy is gone but Quantum Link is back. No, seriously. Check out http://www.quantum-link.org/ for all the details including a way to access Q-Link with your modern PC (just in case your retro computer is in the attic).
August 6th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Wow, that's hella awesome RedWolf! I've never seen this before!
Any chance you could do an article on the only OTHER reason to dust off IE, virtualapple.org?
August 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Bjorn, thanks for mentioning that. I've actually been working on a piece about Quantum Link Reloaded. I'm working on actually connecting through a real C64. Stay tuned!
August 7th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Wow, this takes me back! I spent too much time in 1994 playing this game. I'm actually nostalgic for the old DOS Prodigy software.
August 7th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Before Internet Games There Was Only… MadMaze!
My first exposure to the online world came in 1993 when my parents gave me a 14.4Kbps modem. In the days before modern Internet access there were online services such as Prodigy, the original iteration of America Online, CompuServe, GEnie,
August 7th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
A great place to go for information about Quantum Link Reloaded, including assistance on getting connected with a real 64 or with an emulator like VICE, check out the message forums at:
http://jledger.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=qlink
August 10th, 2006 at 9:49 am
[…] Fast forward to this morning. I was browsing through some of my less news feeds, when an article entitled “Prodigy Lives! Play MadMaze On the Web” on VintageComputing.com. Could this be the very game that has inexplicably risen out of my subconscious? And better yet, could I play it via the web right now? Tantalizing, indeed, but was this in fact the same game I remember from yesteryear? It did match 2 of the 3 keywords - “Prodigy” and “Maze”, but was there a Chickenhouse? […]
August 21st, 2006 at 1:51 am
do you know where i can find any of the other games that were on Prodigy?
August 21st, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Leslie,
No, sorry. The best I can help you is to point you towards Google. But if you find any more, please let us know!
December 2nd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Hi, I used to play madmaze when I was a kid. i naver forgave my dad for canceling our prodigy service, because I had gotten so far in the game, and lost it. My question is this,
Can I buy a copy of the game to run on my computer? Where can I find it. I've been looking for years.
Thank you.
December 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Jennifer,
No, you can't run this game on your computer locally. The game originally resided on Prodigy's servers and was run exclusively through their client. The version of the game in the article above is a simulation of that game written to run over the web in Internet Explorer. The link to the simulation is in the 2nd to last paragraph of the article. Have fun!
May 21st, 2008 at 3:58 am
My dad is a retired Air Force officer, and he worked with computer since the 1970′s. Growing up, I had the opportunity to experiment a lot with computers, and innovated programs.
The first game I ever played online was Mad Maze. My first experience online was with Prodigy. I remember playing this and not understanding why I had only a few minutes to play. Back then, internet charged by the minute. I think it was something like 2.99$ a minute. I was only 7 years old, and I think it was 1989, or 1990.
I now know how lucky I was to be just 7 or 8 years old and using the internet back when most people, even those much older than me, hadn't had the same opportunity. I think it was the mid to late 90′s when most American kids had consistent access to the internet. Anyone before then was lucky, like myself.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I loved the maze game!! I also loved FITB and Prodigy's version of Carmen Sandiego.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:03 am
like Ralph said it was a different time. Mad Maze was my first online game as well, its amazing how entertaining something can be when you don't know any better. My whole family played this game when we had prodigy, even my dad who hates this kind of stuff!
October 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Hmm, MadMaze doesn't seem to work well.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:14 am
What was the name of the business simulation game on Prodigy that was about cars? Car Wars? Auto Wars? Has anyone re-done this game? Timely I'd say.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I first got online with Prodigy with my 1200 kbs modem in my IBM286. Still love the classic garbled connect sound (but I can live without it with T1). Mad Maze was a classic…almost as good as the great gritty graphic games of the 90s (Lucas Arts….Tex Murphy…StoneKeep…the first "Theme Park"). They even topped Intellivision's classicsiity. I dont remember V's business sim.
January 4th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Oh, the memories! Glad to find this online, appreciate your posting it
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Can I get this game to work on my mac? I downloaded IE 5.2 and it still won't load the game. Any help?
August 8th, 2009 at 12:31 am
I know I'm coming late to the conversation, but this is a great find. Really brings back memories of my top-of-the-line 2400bps and its blazing speed that winter of 1992. Never got past that damn minotaur, though.
Sometimes I'll hear a fax machine connect and I'll have a Prodigy flashback…
October 15th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
haha i used to sing along with the 14.4Kbps modem while signing on. i got hooked on madmaze but i never got past the minotaur either! i loved carmen sandiego and thinker (which was basically mastermind online), i LOVED police artist or police sketch artist or something, NOVA had a section with an interactive flash type animation, and i barely remember that car simulation….
prodigy was the best!!!!
were there mad libs or something on prodigy??
January 25th, 2010 at 12:59 am
GUTS!!!!!
December 29th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
@ z better late than never but that game was called "ceo" and i loved it
March 4th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
oh my god! i loved this game! and prodigy! internet memories - awesome.
April 6th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Ok what was the old helicopter game, i swear it was on prodigy as well. Maybe I am fuzzy from 20 years of no prodigy.
Made maze was the best…
July 20th, 2011 at 3:11 am
Symptoms include priaprism…
July 25th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
THE LINK TO PLAY THE GAME IS DEAD!! I had just finished the first level!
July 31st, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Not to worry - MadMaze lives on at:
http://d1144651.mydomainwebhost.com/MadMaze2
August 1st, 2011 at 1:28 am
Oh thank you so much. I was totally into it after the first level!
August 8th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
I was on the second maze when it kicked me out, I've been trying for 4 days to get back in.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
This is one of many creative MadMaze posts that could be found on the old Prodigy Classic Games BB:
Announcer: "We here at K-Mad wish everyone a very happy Halloween … and to get our show started ………… H e e e e r e's Joanie!!!"
(Joanie comes out from behind the curtain and sits on a stool.)
Joanie: "Since Halloween is almost upon us..I have some MadMaze tips on how to have a safe and fun time trick or treating. First and foremost … NEVER take anything to eat or drink from Crone Matilda. I can't go into this more, as we here at K-Mad avoid gruesome details in our programming.
Another tip … NEVER knock at the front gate of the Wicksmear Castle … as it will be your last stop if you do. Speaking of "nevers" this also applies to taking chocolate cake while on the moon.
Other places to avoid are the village of the Tigeree, Mooko, and the Twisted Temple. In all these places, trick or treats means you give "them" something.
On the positive side, the Merchant is giving out frozen yoghurt pops again this year … Remember also to take an ice chest to the Land of Snow and Ice, as Carange's treats quickly melt.
Good places to trick or treat are Sage Tsoreen's place, any of the Vert's, the Bazaar, and the Oasis. It is also reported that the Floating City will be dropping wrapped treats from the sky as they pass over the various villages in the realms.
I don't think I need to remind anyone not to wear an Insectidae costume if you will be trick or treating in the City of Caesauriasus, and vise versa if you are going to the Lair of the Prime Mother and the Pyramids.
It has been reported that special traffic advisors will be in place in the Invisible Maze to help direct Halloween celebrators to the Moon. Residents of the Moon have been complaining for years that they rarely get any trick or treaters, so this year we are hoping the problem will be solved by the extra helpers.
This should be one of the best Halloween's ever with gala parties planned throughout the Glade … so be sure to check them out after you finish trick or treating …"
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:35 am
Looks like the link is down again…sad as I was missing this game. I never did get to finish it as a kid…
January 13th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
It's a shame that the game's gone down. I hope it returns soon. You know, we probably wouldn't have this problem if someone just converted this game into Flash - as in, screenshot everything and assemble it so it plays just like the original.
Ah well, in the meantime, I've started a TVtropes page for it. I'm surprised there hasn't been one before now. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/MadMaze
January 13th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
It hasn't gone down — it works for me. The game did move, though, and I changed the link in this article back in July 2011 (see note at the bottom of the post above).
http://d1144651.mydomainwebhost.com/MadMaze2/
In case it ever goes down permanently, the author sent me a mirror of MadMaze II that I can set up, but I won't make that live unless his version goes down.
January 13th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
I've been using that link. However, a couple of days ago, right in front of Osmet Khan's palace, I got a message saying something about an overflow error in line 240 (I think), and from that point on, every time I go to that site on IE, it says the webpage cannot be found.
The link seems to work on Firefox, though (the site - not the game itself).
January 13th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Hmm. Are you using a new version of IE like IE 9? The Mad Maze II code may not be compatible with newer versions of IE.
January 13th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
It appears that the only version compatible with Windows 7 is IE9. I've been looking into finding alternatives, like emulators and such, but my search has proved fruitless. I tried downloading something called IEtester, which lets you view web pages in any version, but it still seems to fail.
All in all, I'm a sad panda.
Still, it would be some consolation if you and others would contribute to the TVTropes article I made. I'm sure the game would receive a massive popularity boost through it, besides.
January 13th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
So.
I'm a dumbass.
Turns out all I had to do was clear my IE cookies to get it working again.
Carry on.
January 15th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Okay, I think I figured out the problem. If you ever save in the double maze (after taking care of Aboud's whirlwind, where Osmet Khan's palace is), the next move you make will crash the game and render it unplayable until you delete your IE cookies. A frustrating bug indeed.
March 5th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
After reaching the Edge of the World a second time, I ended up in the indoors maze on the Moon that only goes left and right with seemingly no end. Nothing seems to happen whether I click left or right. What's the best way to proceed?
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:10 pm
I LOVED Prodigy! I went thru my routine…..
0. BBS's (Although most were gone by then)
1. Prodigy
2. AOL
3. Then the rest of the day/night with the Web, forgot what server. Zoom.com?
It's all cool ass computer love.
Robin in SF CA
May 29th, 2012 at 9:22 am
It's working for me. Running on an old XP box with IE8 I had no errors.
Thanks again Benj!
January 24th, 2013 at 10:27 am
I can't seem to play. I hae Windows 7,IE 9. Am I out of luck? I just get the error message whenever I try and open the site.
January 27th, 2013 at 2:33 am
I can't seem to get it to work using IE6 on an old windows xp laptop i have either. It seems like the page isn't around anymore. Hopefully someone fixes this, I would love to have a stand alone copy of this game to nostalgia out anytime i felt like it.
February 19th, 2013 at 5:07 am
I'm very upset to say this, but I suspect Russ, who maintained the web port of MadMaze, passed away last summer (2012), and the site will likely not come back up.
His site was maintained out of a location near Rome, NY, which had posted an obituary for someone by his name in July. If my suspicion is correct, it's terribly unfortunate, but his contribution to our memory of this game does not go unappreciated.
February 19th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Joshua,
Thanks for that information. If it's true, then I will work on putting up a mirror of the MadMaze II game. I obtained the code from Russ a few years ago just in case something happened. I'll let everybody know when the new version is up and running.
Regards,
Benj
February 26th, 2013 at 11:07 am
For what it's worth I've begun a Let's Play of Mad Maze for anyone that finds the time challenge daunting.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrW9FaeJ55uztBrm5zPPZqAzhh9ukn1Ct&feature=view_all
I love this game. Was my only real experience with Prodigy and one of my best memories.
April 24th, 2013 at 3:17 pm
Where are all the other Prodigy games??? I can find neither list of names nor screenshots of anything but MadMaze. Really, internet? Nothing??
April 25th, 2013 at 10:12 pm
Hi Benj,
I'm interested in having this classic from my childhood on my site. If you are running into any technical issues let me know. I would love to help get this back online and working with modern browsers. (I currently just get a blue box)