Cheeky Mouse

Cheeky Mouse is an action game released in arcades by Universal in 1980. The game has players attempting to protect a supply of cheese from numerous mice by hitting them with a hammer before they get away!

Cheeky Mouse is played with a side view where the mouse's lair is at the very top of the screen with a supply of cheese located at the bottom of the screen; just above the cheese is a floor along which the player's character can walk left or right. Mice will leave the lair through one of the holes and run down the screen, chew through the floor, and attempt to make it back to the lair with the cheese. Players need to stop the mice by hitting them with a hammer; the mice can be hit either when they are running towards the bottom to steal cheese, or on their way back to the lair after having picked up cheese. When a mouse picks up a piece of cheese it will always run back via the same hole in the floor that it created giving some help in determining wheree they should run to; otherwise, the mice run in seemingly random patterns and do their best to avoid the player. Once all of the mice are gone, the game continues to the next, more difficult level; as the levels increase, the mice become faster, windows are added to the playfield that the mice run around, more mice appear at once, and their evasion skills increase.

Players lose a life if the mice successfully steal all of the cheese. Additionally, various mystery pests will appear from time to time; contact with one of these pests will also cost a life. Players are awarded a bonus life for scoring 3000 points, and the game ends when no more lives are remaining.