Selecting the Custom Game mode brings you right into the Game Setup Screen, where you can begin a single player game.

Selecting Mission Mode brings you into the Mission Selection Screen. Although the gameplay in Mission Mode is similar to the gameplay in the other modes, it brings you through a series of preset challenges. This is the best option for a new player who wants to learn how to play the game.

Select the mission you want to play. At first, only one mission is available; as you beat each mission, later missions will become available to you. The objectives for the mission are displayed; read them carefully so you know what you're trying to do. When you are ready to start the mission, press Start Mission. If you want to return to the Main Menu, press Cancel.

The "Show Instructions" and "Show Hints" checkboxes are available to turn on and off in-game instructions and hints during the missions. If "Show Instructions" is checked, instructions will occasionally be displayed as you play through the missions, explaining how to play the game. If "Show Hints" is checked, hints will be displayed which help you through the missions. Read and follow both of these types of messages carefully and you will have an easier time with the missions.

To view instructions and hints which are no longer displayed, or to see the objectives for the current mission, press the Enter key or the T key. This will bring up the chat window which displays all of the text that has appeared throughout the game. Press the Enter key again or the Escape key to close the chat window.

Selecting Slimeland.com brings you into the slimeland.com menu, where you can find other Maze Wars players and join in games with them. You can either join existing games, or create a new game.

To join a game, first click the Refresh List button. Maze Wars will connect to slimeland.com and get a list of available games. If there are any, they will appear in the dropdown on the left. Select one from the dropdown and click the Join button to join that game. You will enter into the Game Setup Screen.

If there are no games available, you may choose to host one and wait for others to join. To do this, type in a name for your game in the textbox beneath "Create Game", choose the port on which the game will be hosted (if you don't understand this, just leave the default value), and click the Create button. You will enter the Game Setup Screen, and Maze Wars will then connect to slimeland.com to put your game on the list for others to see.

At the top of the screen is a textbox where you can change your name if you want.

Selecting Private Game brings you into the Private Game menu, where you can create and join games that aren't made available to the public on slimeland.com.

To host (or create) a game, select "Host Game" and press OK. You will enter the Game Setup Screen. Your address will be displayed in the upper right; people who want to join your game will need it.

To join a game that someone else is hosting, select "Join Game," and next to "Host Address," type in the address of the person hosting the game. Then press OK, and you will enter into the Game Setup Screen with the other players.

You can change your name in the "Your Name" textbox before hosting or joining a game if you wish.

The port option allows the host to set a port on which the game will be hosted; the players joining must enter the same port number. If you don't understand this option, just use the default value.

The first set of options under the "Maze" tab have to do with the maze on which the game will be played. A variety of mazes are available and can be chosen from by clicking on the "Maze" dropdown. To the right, a preview of the maze that you select will be displayed. Black areas represent walls.

Many mazes are repeatable, and can therefore be set to different sizes. Choose the size you want in the "Desired Size" number boxes. Maze Wars will display the closest size that the selected maze supports under "Actual Size." If the "Desired Size" number boxes are disabled, then the selected maze is a fixed-size maze and does not repeat.

The options under the "Teams" tab allow you to set up the teams that will compete to win the game. First, choose the number of teams with the "Number of Teams" number box. You may have anywhere from 1 to 16 teams in a game.

The "Players per team" number box lets you set the number of players on each team, and the "AI difficulty" dropdown lets you choose the difficulty of the AI players that make up the teams. For instance, if you have 3 players per team and "AI difficulty" is set to "Normal," then you will be on Team 1 with 2 Normal AI players, and Teams 2 and 3 will each consist of 3 Normal AI players.

Check the "Observe game" checkbox to observe the game rather than play in it. This way, AI players will fight each other while you watch.

If you wish to have more control over the teams in the game, click the "Advanced team options" checkbox.

For each team, you can select a number of Easy, Normal, or Hard AI opponents that will compete on that team by modifying the number in the number box of the corresponding column. You can select the team on which you will play by clicking the appropriate radio button in the "You" column. The total number of competitors in each team will be displayed in the "Total" column.

You may choose to Observe the game (and therefore not compete in it) by clicking the radio button in the "Observers" row.

The "Game Settings" tab provides options that let you control the type of game you will play. The most important setting is the "Game Type" option, from which you can choose between Skirmish, Frenzy, or Capture the Flag game types. Each game type is explained in detail below. Beneath this dropdown is a brief description of the game type you have selected, and to the right is a simple illustration of the game type's elements.

The next setting is the "Scenario" dropdown. This lets you choose in more detail how the game will end and how it will be won. Beneath the dropdown is a description of the scenario you have chosen, including the objective and the scoring system. When the objective is complete, the team with the highest score wins.

If you want to have more control over the game, click the "Advanced game options" checkbox.

The first advanced setting is the "Game End Condition" dropdown. This decides what will cause the game to end. Many of the game end conditions require a number "X" to be specified; that number can be selected in the "X =" number box to the right. The following options are available:

X Minutes Pass

The game will end after the specified number of minutes.

Any Player Gets X Kills

As soon as the Kill count of any single player reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Player Gets X Deaths

As soon as the Death count of any single player reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Player Gets X Goals / Flags

As soon as any single player obtains the specified number of goals (in Frenzy) or returns the specified number of flags (in Capture the Flag), the game will end.

Any Team Gets X Kills

As soon as the combined Kill count of all of the members of any team reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Team Gets X Deaths

As soon as the combined Death count of all of the members of any team reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Team Gets X Goals / Flags

As soon as the combined number of goals that are obtained (in Frenzy) or flags that are returned (in Capture the Flag) by all of the members of any team reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Team Loses X Goals / Flags

As soon as the total number of flags that are lost to other players (in Capture the Flag) by any team reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Any Team's Score Becomes X

As soon as any team obtains the specified score, the game will end. The scoring is determined by other options which are explained below.

Total Kills Equals X

As soon as the combined Kill count of all of the players in the game reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Total Goals / Flags Equals X

As soon as the combined number of goals that are obtained (in Frenzy) or flags that are returned (in Capture the Flag) by all of the players in the game reaches the specified number, the game will end.

Total Score Becomes X

As soon as the sum of the scores of all of the teams reaches the specified number, the game will end. The scoring is determined by other options which are explained below.

Game Never Ends

The game will not end. In Multiplayer mode, the host may still force the game to end through the in-game menu.

Game end conditions that have to do with scores allow negative numbers to be specified.

Finally, the scoring system options can be set. The team which has the highest score at the end of the game will win the game. There are four actions which can change a team's score: a Kill by any player in that team, a Death by any player in that team, a goal (in Frenzy) or flag returned (in Capture the Flag) by any player in that team, or a flag lost to another team (in Capture the Flag).

Check the checkboxes next to the actions which you want to count towards a team's score. To the right, you can select the number of points awarded or revoked for each action. For instance, if you check the "Kills increase score" checkbox and the "Deaths decrease score" checkbox, and you assign points of 5 and 3 respectively, then a team will gain 5 points when one of it's members kills an opponent, and it will lose 3 points when one of it's members dies to an opponent.

Points can be set to negative numbers. This can be used to create interesting game situations: try a Capture the Flag game in which points are lost for killing other players. The goal in such a game would be to obtain as many flags as possible while minimizing the number of opponents killed; however, it may still be worth killing an opponent if it will prevent them from retrieving a flag and gaining points for their team. Another option would be to assign negative points for deaths which is equal to the points for kills; this would award points to both the team with a member that kills an opponent and to the opponent's team. With multiple teams in a game, this would require the strategy of killing players only on the teams with the fewest points.

At the top of the In Game screen are three boxes. The leftmost box contains the "Menu" button, which when pressed will pause the game and display the menu screen. Below the "Menu" button is the timer, which displays the amount of time that has elapsed since the game began. If the Game End Condition was set to "X Minutes Pass," then the timer will instead display the amount of time remaining until the game ends.

At the top right of the In Game screen is a box which displays your name. Next to your name is a ship icon which is your team's color. Use this to identify which ships are on your team (same color) and which ships are on opposing teams (different color). It also displays how many Kills and Deaths you have aquired during the game. These are next to the green checkmark and red X respectively. In Frenzy or Capture the Flag game types, the number of goals or flags which you have obtained or returned will also be displayed next to the goal icon.

Inbetween these two boxes, at the top center of the In Game screen, is your rearview mirror. This displays the visible portion of the maze behind your ship.

At the center of your screen is the Main Display. It is your primary viewport into the maze and shows what's in front of you.

To the left is your health bar. When you are hit by an enemy bullet, your health drops a little. When you pick up a health powerup, your health is restored. When the blue health bar is as tall as it can be, your health is full, and when it is reduced to nothing, you will die. Your health will very slowly replenish itself over time. Keep an eye on it to know whether you should be playing offensively or defensively!

To the right is your ammo bar. Each green dot is a single bullet which you can fire. You can carry up to 30 bullets, and whenever you fire a bullet you will lose a dot of ammo. Your ammo slowly replenishes itself, but not fast enough to be helpful in combat, so if you start to run low on ammo, pick up an ammo powerup before someone finds you.

Below the Main Display window are a number of important indicators about your ship's status. On the left are three lights which show whether or not you have certain powerups. The purple light indicates whether or not you have the Fast Bullets Powerup. The green light indicates whether or not you have the Speed Powerup. The blue light indicates whether you have the Shield Powerup, and how full it is represents how much of your shield remains.

On the right are three red lights which indicate how many seeker bullets you have. You can hold between zero and three seeker bullets at once.

In the middle is your radar. It displays the important objects which are in front of you in the maze. In the radar you can see the edges of the maze area, powerups, other ships, bullets, Frenzy goal regions, and Capture the Flag bases.

At the bottom of the In Game screen is a list of all of the teams in the game, in order of highest to lowest score. The team at the top of this list is winning. Your team is highlighted.

Each team in the list consists of a few elements. First is the rank of the team displayed in gold. If a team is tied for a rank with another team (because they have the same score), then some ranking numbers may appear more than once. Next is a ship icon which shows the team's color. To the right of the ship icon is the team's score. After that, in a Frenzy or Capture the Flag game, the number of goals or flags which the team has aquired will be listed next to a goal icon. In Capture the Flag, that will be followed by the number of flags that the team has lost to other teams. Finally, the total number of Kills and Deaths of the members of the team are displayed next to a green checkmark and a red X.

If you don't like the default keys for the game, you can change them. Open customkeys.txt (in the same directory as mazewars.exe) and follow the instructions given.

Every player in the game is represented by a hovering ship. The ship is colored by their team color.

Ships are displayed on the radar as small triangles.

When you are hit by a bullet, a red indicator will flash on your screen that indicates the direction you were hit from. When this happens, you should usually move so that you're not in the line of fire.

To kill an enemy opponent, you must fire bullets at them. Each bullet that hits a ship will reduce its health by a small amount. When a ship's health is depleted, the ship will explode and respawn elsewhere, increasing the victor's Kill count and the victim's Death count. It is not uncommon to die very frequently, but the penalty for death is fairly low: you appear in a different part of the maze with full health and full ammo, and any powerups you had obtained are lost. You will also have one seeker bullet regardless of how many you had before you died.

Your bullets can only hurt enemy ships. In fact, they go through ships on your own team, so don't be afraid to shoot an enemy which is on the other side of a friendly ship.

Seeker bullets are like normal bullets except for two things: they do more damage, and they can turn around corners. If a seeker bullet notices a nearby enemy player down a pathway to either side, it will turn in that direction. This is helpful when you have nearly killed an opponent but they escaped to the side; shooting a seeker bullet may finish them off.

In addition, because seeker bullets do a little more damage than normal bullets, if you find yourself face to face with an opponent you may want to shoot seeker bullets at them, so that you increase your chances of killing them before they kill you.

All normal bullets are green, and seeker bullets are red. Bullets are displayed on the radar as small green or red dots.

Powerups are a crucial part of the gameplay in Maze Wars, and they can decide how long you stay alive. There are two sizes of powerups: large powerups and small powerups. There are three types of powerups in each size. To get a powerup, simply move your ship into it, and it will take effect.

Small Powerups

Large Powerups

Powerups appear on the radar as small or large dots of the powerup's color. If you need a powerup of a certain type, you should check the radar to see where one is.

In a Skirmish game, the objective is to Kill opposing ships without letting them kill you. There are no additional rules.

In the Frenzy game type, there is a circular region within the maze where a "goal" is hidden. When a player finds and obtains the goal, the region moves to a different area of the maze and the goal is randomly replaced inside it.

The region is displayed on the radar as a large white circle and in the Main Display the edges of the region are displayed as a bright white wall.

Obtaining the goal awards points to your team depending on the Game Settings. Your primary goal in this game type is to find and retrieve the goal as many times as possible, and, naturally, to prevent your opponents from doing the same.

In a Capture the Flag game, there is a base assigned to every team. Each base is circular and they are positioned in order to be as fair as possible to each team. The bases appear on the radar as large circles and in the Main Display their edges appear as bright colored walls. The color of a base is the same as the color of the team which owns the base.

Whenever you die and are respawned, you will be inside of your team's base.

Each team has a "flag" in their base which looks the same as the "goal" in a Frenzy game, but has the team's color. You can see your own flag on the radar as a small circle. You can't see other team's flags on the radar.

The objective is to find an enemy flag in one of the enemy bases, and return it to your base. You can pick a flag up by moving through it just like a powerup. While holding an enemy flag, it hovers above your head for all to see, and it will be displayed in the upper left of the Main Display. If you can return to your base with the flag, then you will gain points for your team depending on the Game Settings. If your base overlaps with the base that the flag belongs in, then you must also leave the base in which you obtained the flag to return it.

If one of your team members is holding an opponent's flag, then you can see the flag on your radar as a small circle around that teammate.

You cannot pick up your own flag. You can only pick up one flag at a time; if you pick up a second then the first returns to a random position within its team's base. When you pick up a flag, you will lose the effects of the Speed Powerup if you have obtained one, and if you have a Shield then it will begin to deplete as fast as if you had been hit by a bullet. This increases the difficulty of returning a flag to your base.

If you die while holding a flag, it returns to its team's base.

In Capture the Flag, you regenerate health at a slightly increased rate if you are within your team's base. However, if you sit on top of your flag, you will degenerate health very quickly; if you stay there too long you will die. This is to prevent players from guarding their flag too closely.

Although these rules may seem complicated, in practice the game is very simple: find an opponent's flag, and bring it back to your base.

In Multiplayer mode, a chat window is provided in the Game Setup screen with which you can talk to the other players in the game. Type in the textbox and either hit the Enter key or press the Send button to send your text.

Typing "/me" or "/emote" before your chat text will display that you are "doing" something. For instance, the text "/me will win" displays the message "<your name> will win" to all players.

Additionally, when a player enters or leaves the game, that information will be displayed in the Chat Window.

You can drag the horizontal bar between the chat window and the game setup options to change how much space each takes up.

In Multiplayer mode, regardless of whether or not "Advanced team options" is checked in the Teams tab, a list of teams will be displayed. Each team displays the number of AI players on it, and radio buttons are provided with which you can choose your team.

There is also an additional column in the Teams tab in Multiplayer mode. The "Other Team Members" column displays what other people are on each team. You can use this to see what teams the other players have chosen to play on.

Only the host can change the majority of the game settings. If you are not hosting the game, you will be unable to change any of the settings in the Game Setup screen. You can, however, select which team you will play on.

To chat with other players in the game, press either the T key or the Enter key, and the chat interface will appear. The chat works just like the Chat Window in the Game Setup Screen.

By default, all chat will appear for a short time on the Main Display. To disable this, uncheck "Display chat on screen" in the chat interface.

You can choose who to chat with by selecting an option from the "Send chat to" dropdown. You can send chat to all players, to players on your team (default), or privately to an individual player.

By default, when you open the chat interface, your chat will be sent to your teammates. However, if you hold the shift key down while opening the chat window, the chat will be sent to all players. This is a handy shortcut, but be careful not to send messages intended for your team to all players!

After sending a message, if you are playing the game (that is, if the game is not over and you are not an Observer), the chat interface will close. If you want to close the chat interface without sending your message, press the Escape key. If you want to close the chat interface without clearing the chat text, press alt+T.

If you have the chat interface open and you need to do something in the game (such as move your ship with the arrow keys), hold down alt and your input will go to the game instead of the chat interface.

Observers may not chat privately with individual players who are not also Observers.

If the host leaves the game, the game will end and all players will be disconnected. If any other player leaves the game, they will be replaced with a Medium AI player until the game ends.