Armored Car (set 2)
Getting to Know Armored Car (set 2)
Armored Car (set 2) is an arcade game that dropped in 1981 from Stern Electronics, a company known for pinball and a handful of coin-op video games. This one falls under that classic overhead-view maze genre that was everywhere in the early '80s. If you remember games like Rally-X or the maze sections in Heiankyo Alien, you've got the right visual. The 'set 2' label suggests this is a slightly revised version of the original Armored Car, common in arcade cabinets of the era when updates fixed bugs or tweaked difficulty. It runs on standard arcade hardware of its time, with simple vector-ish graphics and a single screen that scrolls horizontally.
The core loop is straightforward: you control a small armored car viewed from above. The maze scrolls from right to left automatically, and your job is to collect stacks of cash scattered around the maze while dodging criminals who wander the same paths. If you touch one of these bad guys, you lose a life. There's no shooting or weapons - just pure evasion and route planning. The money disappears as you drive over it, and once you've grabbed enough, you progress to a new maze layout. It's a simple risk-versus-reward system where you decide how greedy to get before the enemies close in.
Today, Armored Car (set 2) is a niche curiosity even among arcade collectors. It doesn't have the name recognition of bigger Stern titles like Berzerk, but it's an interesting example of the maze-chase subgenre that predated Pac-Man's pop-culture dominance. The monochrome visuals and limited sound won't impress anyone used to modern games, but the tension of navigating tight corridors while criminals converge is still effective. If you enjoy minimalist arcade games where every second counts, it's worth a quick play to see how early designers built drama with only a few moving parts.
How to Play Armored Car (set 2) Online
Getting Started
When you start Armored Car (set 2), the game immediately drops you into the first maze. There are no menus to navigate - it's pure arcade action. Your armored car appears on the left side of the screen, and the maze begins scrolling from right to left. Use the arrow keys to steer your car up, down, left, and right through the corridors. The objective is to collect all the money bags that appear on the floor of the maze. Each bag adds to your score, and once you've cleaned up a certain amount, the next maze loads.
The main threat comes from the criminals who wander the maze. They move predictably (usually in straight lines until they hit a wall), but their patterns can trap you if you're not careful. There are no power-ups or weapons - your only defense is staying out of their path. You can sometimes bait them into a dead end and then slip past, but the scrolling screen means you can't backtrack forever. If a criminal touches your car, you lose one of your three lives. The game ends when all lives are gone.
A useful tip: memorize the maze layout quickly, because the scrolling makes it harder to reverse course. Focus on collecting money in open areas first, then work the tight corridors. The criminals move at a steady pace, so you can plan your route by watching their movement patterns for a few seconds. There is no continue feature, so each credit gives you one shot. Persistence pays off - the mazes repeat with slight variations, and the difficulty ramps up by adding more criminals and faster scrolling.
Armored Car (set 2) Keyboard Controls
Controls
- Arrow Keys: Joystick / Movement
- X: Button 1
- S: Button 2
- Z: Button 3
- A: Button 4
- Q: Button 5
- E: Button 6
- Enter: Start / 1P
- V: Coin / Insert
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