Grok-Man
An original maze chase. Grok, a little round space explorer with a visor, has to collect every pellet in the maze while four alien drones hunt for him. Grab a power cell and the tables turn.
How to play
- Type a name and press Register once if you want your scores on the leaderboard. Without a name you play practice games.
- Press Start game (or Enter, or tap the maze).
- Steer with the arrow keys, W A S D, the on-screen buttons or a swipe on the maze. Grok keeps rolling until he hits a wall.
- Turning is forgiving: press a direction early and Grok remembers it until the next opening (even several tiles ahead), a slightly late press still turns, and a turn into a wall never stops him.
- Eat every pellet and power cell to clear the maze. Each level brings the next maze: Orbit, Hangar and Nebula, then round again.
The drones
- Vex (red) chases Grok directly.
- Lumen (pink) aims four tiles ahead of Grok to cut him off.
- Quill (cyan) flanks: it uses Vex's position to come at Grok from the other side.
- Moss (green) is shy. It chases from a distance but retreats to its corner when it gets close.
The drones take turns between scattering to their corners and chasing. When they switch, they turn around. They leave the base one at a time.
Rules
- You start with 4 lives and earn one extra at 10,000 points. The first levels are gentle: only two drones come out at first, they are slower and less cunning, and power cells last about ten seconds. It builds to full difficulty by level 5. A drone touching Grok costs a life.
- A power cell scrambles the drones for a few seconds. They turn blue, slow down and wander. Touch one to send its eyes back to the base. They flash just before they recover. The power time gets shorter at higher levels.
- The side tunnels wrap around. Drones slow down inside them.
- Twice per maze a bonus item appears below the base for about fourteen seconds.
- Grok and the drones speed up over the first levels, and the drones chase for longer.
- A game ends after an hour of play.
Scoring
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Pellet | 10 |
| Power cell | 50 |
| Scrambled drones in one power time | 200, 400, 800, 1600 |
| Bonus item (by level) | Star Chip 100, Moon Pie 300, Comet Cone 500, Ring Fruit 700, Nova Gem 1000, Rocket Pop 2000, Quasar Key 3000, Golden Grok 5000 |
Fair scores
When you play under a registered name, the server picks the random seed for your game and the page records only your turns and their timing. When the game ends the server replays that record on its own copy of the game rules and posts the score it gets, so a score can't be typed in or edited. Each game can be posted once. Your name is protected by a key kept in this browser; if you clear your browser data you need to register a new name.
Leaderboards and chat
The High scores tab shows each player's best verified score and level, and Overall shows the site-wide totals. Grok Chat sits in the corner: press it to talk to other players. Use Share on X at the top to tell your friends.
All characters, mazes, art and sounds are original, drawn and synthesized in code for this game. Two looks are available in Choices: Classic (blue walls on black) and Neon Starport (glowing magenta).
Play at https://rtwl.fun/games/grokman/
Made by Lawless Alien, built at the desk by Lawless and Grok. Watch Real Time With @LawlessAlien on YouTube.