is a 1982 videogame developed by Zilec and published by Centuri

Centuri

Centuri, based in Hialeah, Florida, was one of the top six suppliers of coin operated video game machinery in the United States. Many of the machines distributed in the US under the Centuri name were licensed from overseas manufacturers, particularly Konami....

 in the United States.

Overview

The objective of The Pit is to descend into an underground labyrinth, retrieve a gem, and escape.

Description

The Pit is comparatively rare and devilishly difficult. The player's avatar (described as "The Astronaut-Explorer" by the game manual) lands in a spaceship and must dig his way into a series of underground tunnels. While there, he must avoid being crushed by rocks, eaten by monsters, impaled by arrows, or melted in a vat of acid. In lieu of a traditional timer is a tank (the "Zonker") shooting away a mountain near the player's spaceship. If the player dallies too long in the maze, the Zonker will destroy the player's spaceship, and the player loses a life.

After collecting the treasure, the only route back to the spaceship is by crossing "The Pit", which is a room with a sliding retractable floor underneath which is a monster that will devour a player who tarries too long.

There are superficial similarities to Dig Dug

Dig Dug

is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

, but shooting enemies in The Pit is an incidental activity,

Scoring

The player receives 200 points for shooting each enemy, 1000 points for each crystal collected, 2000 points for collecting buried treasure, and 1000 points for crossing "The Pit" safely and reboarding the ship.

Regional Differences

The tank is labeled "Zilec" in the original U.K version, and the developer's name is also displayed in the title bar instead of that of the local publisher "Centuri" in the American version. In addition, the game map layout as well as the color palette differ between the two versions.