Rushin' Roulette
A Marathon Map by David Santoro

Rushin' Roulette is a map jam-packed with carnage.  Out of all the maps that I've made, it probably has the highest kills-per-minute.  However, there is quite a bit of strategy involved as well.

The basic premise is this: everyone starts in one of the pits surrounding a central pit.  A platform will carry you up the wall, where you can jump into the central pit and grab a bunch of weapons.  Once in the middle, however, you have to take one of the slow-moving risers at the corner (about a 5-second trip) to get out.  There is also the added risk of someone hitting a switch and dropping a crusher from the ceiling.

The four lower pits are connected by some passageways.  At the corners where these meet, there are goodies and switches.  Some switches control lights, some drop crushers in the central pit, some open secret doors, and some cause instant death.

There are switches near each corner room that will shut the door nearest it for awhile.  This is very useful to deter pursuers momentarily.  The doors will open eventually so that people can't get trapped within.

There are also four switches at the bottom of each outer pit.  These turn the ledges around the pit into sniper's posts; the player can ride up the platform and shoot through the window without much fire of getting hit.  If someone is standing on the ledge when the window drops they get smooshed, and have to wait until the window goes back up to return to the game.  That's what you get for lurking on ledges...

I have purposely placed all of the good weapons (anything above a fusion pistol) in the central pit.  This tends to cause a big rush at the beginning of the game for the central pit, followed by an orgy of mayhem and destruction as everyone in the middle dukes it out.  SPNRs tend to work very well here because of the close quarters, but the elusive TOZT will do an even better job.

I've found that the central pit tends to end up looking like a slaughterhouse.  A lot of people tend to get killed while waiting for the platforms to carry them up.  This is the risk you have to take for getting a good weapon.

I'm really interested in what you think of this map, so if you have any thoughts, please drop me a line.  I'd also love to see any films you might have from the map.  I can be reached at inigo@dartmouth.edu.

Enjoy!
-Dave Santoro
Inigo on IRC #marathon