🎮 Play Championship Lode Runner Online (NES)

Championship Lode Runner is a puzzle-platformer published by Hudson Soft for the NES in 1984, building directly on Douglas E. Smith’s original Lode Runner (Broderbund, 1983). It delivers fifty new, harder levels aimed squarely at players who have already mastered the first game’s patterns — tighter layouts, more relentless monks, and less room for error at every turn.

How to Play

Your goal on every level is to collect every gold bar, then climb to the top of the screen to advance. Use the arrow keys to run and to climb ladders or grab overhead bars. Press Z to dig a hole to your left or X to dig one to your right. Enemies — robed monks — pursue you throughout each level; a monk that falls into a dug hole is trapped there briefly before the hole refills. There is no jump. Everything depends on digging the right holes at the right moment and knowing your exit before you commit.

Tips

• Dig one or two steps ahead of a monk, not directly beneath them — holes take a moment to open, and the timing needs to work in your favour.
• A trapped monk gives you a window of a few seconds. Use it to grab nearby gold and reposition; do not pause to admire your work.
• Before starting any digging sequence, trace the full route back out. Holes refill quickly, and a moment’s hesitation inside one will cost you a life.