board game: Berzerk Based on Stern's Exciting Arcade Game

In 1980, Stern Electronics released the video arcade game Berzerk, a maze game designed by Alan McNeil. The player navigates a "humanoid" through a series of labyrinths while killing enemy robots with one thing in common: an endearing clumsiness. The player can easily direct the robots into the maze's electrified walls or into another robot's crossfire. Berzerk employed one of the earliest synthesized voices, which emanated from the robots. They taunt the player with phrases like "Get the humanoid!" and "Kill the chicken!"

Berzerk the arcade game proved popular enough to inspire a spin-off board game, made by Milton Bradley Company in 1983. Though many such analog versions of video games find little success, the Berzerk board game was praised by critics even though meant for generally younger gamers. Unlike the video game's simple graphics, typical of that era , the board game employs 1980-style bold designs in box cover and character details.