How to play Busy Police online
- Run left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Jump: Space bar (press it while running for a running jump)
- Duck: down arrow key
- Step into the elevator: up arrow key; press down to step out again
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
You run through a four-floor store, riding escalators and an elevator that moves on its own, to catch the thief before he escapes off the roof. Jump over shopping carts, beach balls and radios, which cost you time if they hit you, and duck under the toy biplanes, which cost you a life. You lose a life if the timer runs out or the thief gets away, and the faster you make the arrest, the more points you score. A map at the bottom of the screen shows where you both are.
Where Busy Police came from
In the 1980s Zellers carried a range of Taiwanese 2600 cartridges that were renamed copies of American games. Collectors note that the Busy Police label even reused the artwork from the Keystone Kapers box. Other Zellers copies on the site include Farmer Dan (Gopher) and Dragon Treasure (Dragonfire). For the full rules, scoring table and the story of how the game was made, see the Keystone Kapers page.
Similar games to play next
- Keystone Kapers – the Activision original this cartridge was copied from
- Farmer Dan – another Zellers copy, this time of US Games’ Gopher
- Bank Heist – cops and robbers from the robber’s side
- Pitfall! – the side-scrolling Activision adventure that shaped Keystone Kapers’ layout