Chip's Challenge

For other uses, see Chip's Challenge (disambiguation).

This page is specifically about the original set of levels that shipped with Chip's Challenge. For the game itself, see MSCC (for the popular 1992 Windows port) or Chip's Challenge for Atari Lynx (for the original).

Chip's Challenge 1

Creator	N/A
Number of levels	149
Release	Unknown edit
First release	1 September 1989 (Atari Lynx)
Well-known release	1994 (BOWEP)
Latest release	28 May 2015 (Steam)
Location(s)	N/A
Difficulty	*****
CC1 • CCLP1 • CCLP2 • CCLP3 • CCLP4 • CCLP5 CC2 • CC2LP1

Chip's Challenge, often abbreviated to CC1, can refer to the very first set of Chip's Challenge levels: those that shipped with the first game. Strictly speaking, that would be the Lynx game, but CC1 more often means the slightly modified set bundled with the 1992 Windows port. It consists of 149 levels, one of which is exclusive to the Windows port.

As the original levelset, it naturally served as an inspiration for an entire generation of level designers, though some of the levels are less well-regarded with the benefit of hindsight. Thousands of custom levels have been created since the game's release, and the community is still actively producing more. The Bit Busters Club fansite serves as a hub for collecting the levels (and other information about the game), and the community favorites are regularly collected into semi-official Chip's Challenge Level Packs.

The presence of a time limit inspired players to race through the puzzles as quickly as possible and compare their times, creating what may be one of the earliest speedrunning communities, with records going back as far as 1993. These are also collected on the Bit Busters Club site.

Themes

The levelset spans a wide variety of themes and doesn't shy away from playing with its mechanics.

A number of levels are mazes of some sort (as was common in games in the 80s and early 90s), and in fact the in-game story refers to the levels themselves as mazes. Most of them have a unique twist. Strange Maze and Scavenger Hunt are fairly basic, but make use of the basic game elements. Blink introduces teleporters, creating multiple maze fragments that interconnect. Mishmesh and Chipmine heavily feature blue walls, and so must be explored before the maze takes shape. Vanishing Act is comprised entirely of dirt (which becomes floor once stepped on) and invisible walls (which look exactly like floor), creating a maze that slowly renders itself invisible as a player traverses it. Stripes? is partly invisible from the beginning. Cellblocked and Short Circuit prevent you from backtracking and benefit especially well from map-making. Rink, I Slide, and Doublemaze consist largely of ice, making it more difficult to understand the available paths. Apartment and Amsterdam are built out of tiny rooms that frequently connect to their neighbors, offering more options but also more ways to get stuck. Fireflies is two overlapping mazes: one you can traverse and one fireballs can traverse, leaving you vulnerable in the places where they intersect.

As Chip's Challenge features pushable blocks which can clear otherwise deadly water, it lends itself well to Sokoban-style levels. Castle Moat is a more traditional Sokoban: numerous blocks are crammed into tight corridors and require careful thought to extract. Pier Seven has relatively simple block pushing; the puzzle is figuring out where the given number of blocks will reach the center island. Iceberg and Arcticflow feature a series of small islands in icy waters to traverse. Oversea Delivery requires teleporting four blocks through a series of islands without losing any to the sea, while On the Rocks practically invites a player to fill it in. Writers Block, Cityblock, and Pain are infamous for the incredible amount of precise block maneuvering required.

Redirection of monsters by taking advantage of their simple behavior is another common theme. Metastable to Chaos asks the player to disrupt a choreographed dance of bugs by introducing blocks, and Lemmings is a similar idea with rings of fireballs. Traffic Cop has the player direct a stream of walkers across the entirety of the level to press a button. "Underground" levels like Digger, Digdirt, Spooks, and Underground require carefully directing monsters away from the player while digging through a large area of dirt.

Unlike Sokoban and similar turn-based puzzle games, Chip's Challenge plays out in real time, so dodging monsters adds an extra twist. Ping Pong, Problems, and Bounce City offer some relatively simple tasks, but require that they be done while dodging rows of pink balls. Beware of Bug consists of tight corridors that require quick recognition of where a monster will go.

A sort of inverse of maze levels are those that feature patterns and repetition, requiring patience and a methodical approach. Oorto Geld requires setting up an automated button-pressing mechanism, then slipping into several dozen small rooms to collect computer chips. Seeing Stars has a large number of small water gaps to cross in a variety of similar arrangements. Refraction asks a player to collect chips from within a fractal of toggle elements. Reverse Alley is a spiral of blue tanks whose movements are tricky to predict. Telenet, Colony, and Memory feature numerous copies of the same small rooms.

Some levels have no strong theme and are instead general romps through a series of miscellaneous challenges. Nuts and Bolts, Nightmare, and All Full are some well-known examples. Others, like Trinity, Elementary, and Mugger Square, are designed around using the game's four different "elemental" tiles in parallel.

Finally, and perhaps least popular of all, are levels that rely on random elements. Blobnet and Blobdance are infamously tricky; both are packed full of the randomly-moving blobs and require patience and quick reflexes. Jumping Swarm pits the player against a wide-open space that fills with walkers bouncing in all directions. Forced Entry and Force Field are technically not random, but their dizzying arrangements of force floors are so tricky to navigate that a common approach is to simply mash keys and hope for the best.

Not all of the levels fit neatly into a theme, of course. Southpole, Knot, Cypher, The Prisoner, Totally Unfair, Special, and many others feature novel puzzles unlike anything else in the game.

The levels

Not to be confused with Chip's Challenge Level Pack 1.

The Atari Lynx version of Chip's Challenge has 148 increasingly difficult levels which Chip must complete, and there is a 149th level added to the Windows Entertainment Pack version. This original level set is often referred to as Chip's Challenge 1 (CC1), though it should be noted that CC1 can also refer to the game as a whole, to contrast with CC2.

As these were the first Chip's Challenge levels, they begin by introducing the functions of the tiles in the lesson levels, then tie them together in Nuts and Bolts, and add new elements only sparingly from then on out. There are very few levels of high difficulty in CC1 compared to future fan-made level packs such as Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2, as knowledge of puzzle design and game mechanics were comparatively primitive.

The levels were designed in approximately three parts: 1/3 of them by Chuck Sommerville, another third by a professional puzzle designer known as Bill Darrah, and the rest by Chuck's team of programmers and playtesters:

• James Donald
• M. Peter Engelbrite
• Victoria Hanson
• RG Goudy
• Stephen Jungels
• Scott Nelson
• Pete Wierzbicki

Among aficionados of this type of puzzle game, the Windows version (usually referred to as the MS version) of Chip's Challenge is famous for its glitches and busted levels. This was a result of changed mechanics from Lynx to MS and little playtesting in the MS version. Although there were many levels made easier, such as Scoundrel, some levels became far more difficult; the level that would become the Spirals corruption had to be changed because the walkers would spread far quicker under MS rules, and levels with extensive use of hot blocks such as Block N Roll and Special became frustrating trial and error challenges to solve due to the inability to block slap.

The Steam re-release of Chip's Challenge 1 uses the game engine from Chip's Challenge 2, which is the Lynx ruleset with some minor changes.

List of CC1 levels

#	Level Title	Password	Time Limit	MS Bold	Lynx Bold
1	Lesson 1	BDHP	100	83	82
2	Lesson 2	JXMJ	100	90	89
3	Lesson 3	ECBQ	100	89	88
4	Lesson 4	YMCJ	150	116	116
5	Lesson 5	TQKB	100	85	84
6	Lesson 6	WNLD (MS) WNLP (Lynx)	100	94	93
7	Lesson 7	FXQO	150	139	138
8	Lesson 8	NHAG	100	96	96
9	Nuts and Bolts	KCRE	400	306	299
10	Brushfire	UVWS (MS) VUWS (Lynx)	80	51	51
11	Trinity	CNPE	300	211	204
12	Hunt	WVHI	400	270	269
13	Southpole	OCKS	---	982	981
14	Teleblock	BTDY	250	204	196
15	Elementary	COZQ	250	89	88
16	Cellblocked	SKKK	---	971	971
17	Nice Day	AJMG	100	83	82
18	Castle Moat	HMJL	600	553	552
19	Digger	MRHR	210	171	171
20	Tossed Salad	KGFP	400	340	340
21	Iceberg	UGRW	150	119	115
22	Forced Entry	WZIN	300	293	288
23	Blobnet	HUVE	500	436	435
24	Oorto Geld	UNIZ	550	430	431
25	Blink	PQGV	600	435	422
26	Chchchips	YVYJ	300	254	254
27	Go with the Flow	IGGZ	200	147	144
28	Ping Pong	UJDO (MS) UJDD (Lynx)	300	239	236
29	Arcticflow	QGOL	400	302	286
30	Mishmesh	BQZP	600	454	454
31	Knot	RYMS	29	6	3
32	Scavenger Hunt	PEFS	600	379	379
33	On the Rocks	BQSN	---	684	631
34	Cypher	NQFI	350	297	297
35	Lemmings	VDTM	600	577	577
36	Ladder	NXIS	350	232	241
37	Seeing Stars	VQNK	800	597	586
38	Sampler	BIFA	500	462	452
39	Glut	ICXY	20	17	17
40	Floorgasborg	YWFH	200	195	192
41	I.C. You	GKWD	250	172	166
42	Beware of Bug	LMFU	300	187	187
43	Lock Block	UJDP	200	126	118
44	Refraction	TXHL	300	146	144
45	Monster Lab	OVPZ	300	292	286
46	Three Doors	HDQJ	250	222	200
47	Pier Seven	LXPP	300	231	220
48	Mugger Square	JYSF	300	277	271
49	Problems	PPXI	200	162	161
50	Digdirt	QBDH	350	318	319
51	I Slide	IGGJ	750	655	649
52	The Last Laugh	PPHT	400	382	381
53	Traffic Cop	CGNX	500	478	452
54	Grail	ZMGC	350	326	319
55	Potpourri	SJES	100	70	68
56	Deepfreeze	FCJE	250	162	150
57	Strange Maze	UBXU	400	229	228
58	Loop Around	YBLT	600	550	546
59	Hidden Danger	BLDM	400	368	366
60	Scoundrel	ZYVI	294	288	232
61	Rink	RMOW	---	950	921
62	Slo Mo	TIGW	300	282	282
63	Block Factory	GOHX	500	477	473
64	Spooks	IJPQ	600	548	547
65	Amsterdam	UPUN	500	397	383
66	Victim	ZIKZ	300	292	291
67	Chipmine	GGJA	700	518	518
68	Eeny Miny Moe	RTDI	650	489	492
69	Bounce City	NLLY	300	229	220
70	Nightmare	GCCG	199	136	136
71	Corridor	LAJM	500	355	351
72	Reverse Alley	EKFT	---	961	961
73	Morton	QCCR	600	485	485
74	Playtime	MKNH	400	359	355
75	Steam	MJDV	500	479	479
76	Four Plex	NMRH	550	416	407
77	Invincible Champion	FHIC	500	481	478
78	Force Square	GRMO	500	480	469
79	Drawn and Quartered	JINU	300	220	218
80	Vanishing Act	EVUG	800	733	732
81	Writers Block	SCWF	---	516	521
82	Socialist Action	LLIO	999	969	969
83	Up the Block	OVPJ	400	298	297
84	Wars	UVEO	600	580	579
85	Telenet	LEBX	300	236	224
86	Suicide	FLHH	400	381	380
87	Cityblock	YJYS	---	550	524
88	Spirals	WZYV	400	317	317
89	Block Buster	VCZO	450	402	380
90	Playhouse	OLLM	400	318	314
91	Jumping Swarm	JPQG	400	367	367
92	Vortex	DTMI	500	444	443
93	Roadsign	REKF	800	651	637
94	Now You See It	EWCS	---	906	906
95	Four Square	BIFQ	350	335	333
96	Paranoia	BIFQ (MS) WVHY (Lynx)	399	320	318
97	Metastable to Chaos	IOCS	300	290	290
98	Shrinking	TKWD	350	338	332
99	Catacombs	XUVU	399	380	373
100	Colony	QJXR	---	911	911
101	Apartment	RPIR	300	240	240
102	Icehouse	VDDU	200	177	175
103	Memory	PTAC	600	488	488
104	Jailer	KWNL	300	235	234
105	Short Circuit	YNEG	350	255	254
106	Kablam	NXYB	---	907	903
107	Balls O Fire	ECRE	300	260	258
108	Block Out	LIOC	350	278	272
109	Torturechamber	KZQR	150	133	129
110	Chiller	XBAO	399	276	270
111	Time Lapse	KRQJ	---	963	961
112	Fortune Favours The	NJLA	---	985	985
113	Open Question	PTAS	500	462	463
114	Deception	JWNL	200	172	174
115	Oversea Delivery	EGRW	---	922	898
116	Block Buster II	HXMF	750	717	699
117	The Marsh	FPZT	---	942	923
118	Miss Direction	OSCW	300	260	258
119	Slide Step	PHTY	250	210	178
120	Alphabet Soup	FLXP	---	949	942
121	Perfect Match	BPYS	---	968	966
122	Totally Fair	SJUM	300	272	272
123	The Prisoner	YKZE	299	272	270
124	Firetrap	TASX	800	667	661
125	Mixed Nuts	MYRT	---	830	821
126	Block N Roll	QRLD	600	443	426
127	Skelzie	JMWZ	500	454	442
128	All Full	FTLA	400	315	292
129	Lobster Trap	HEAN	300	286	287
130	Ice Cube	XHIZ	---	933	925
131	Totally Unfair	FIRD	60	26	26
132	Mix Up	ZYFA	999	683	598
133	Blobdance	TIGG	---	949	946
134	Pain	XPPH	---	218	192
135	Trust Me	LYWO	300	293	256
136	Doublemaze	LUZL	---	926	792
137	Goldkey	HPPX	450	392	381
138	Partial Post	LUJT	300	240	225
139	Yorkhouse	VLHH	---	920	919
140	Icedeath	SJUK	300	263	247
141	Underground	MCJE	---	968	969
142	Pentagram	UCRY	---	968	966
143	Stripes?	OKOR	---	858	858
144	Fireflies	GVXQ	---	832	832
145	Thanks to...	TONY	---	991	N/A
146	Cake Walk	JHEN	999	717	704
147	Force Field	COZA	---	970	959
148	Mind Block	RGSK	---	629	630
149	Special	DIGW	999	955	949

Top 10 CC1 players

Current as of November 5, 2024

MS

• Melinda score - 5,977,990; +8 is possible on Blobnet, +1 is possible on Skelzie, and +5 is possible on Cake Walk.
• Highest possible bold score - 5,977,850

#	Player	Score	Bold count
1	David Stolp	5,977,800	139
2	James Anderson	5,977,700	138
2	Jeffrey Bardon	5,977,700	139
4	J.B. Lewis	5,977,680	144
5	Kacper Leszczyński	5,977,530	130
6	Ruben Spaans	5,977,520	132
7	Andrew Bennett	5,977,510	123
8	Andrew Gapic	5,977,480	109
9	Patrik Nilsson	5,977,420	135
10	Evan Dummit	5,977,400	124

Lynx

• Melinda score - 5,898,390; +8 is possible on Blobnet.
• Highest possible bold score - 5,898,310

#	Player	Score	Bold count
1	J.B. Lewis	5,898,310	146
2	Eddy Limb	5,897,990	130
3	Ruben Spaans	5,897,890	125
4	chipster1059	5,897,390	129
5	Paul Gilbert	5,894,960	74
6	Miika Toukola	5,892,980	100
7	Reynaldi Judianto	5,875,400	1
8	Jeffrey Bardon	5,871,190	37
9	RB3ProKeys	5,858,380	12
10	Tyler Sontag	5,855,110	124

Steam

• Highest possible bold score - 5,972,770

#	Player	Score	Bold count
1	Sharpeye468	5,972,770	149
2	J.B. Lewis	5,972,480	138
3	Ruben Spaans	5,971,650	126
4	chipster1059	5,970,750	134
5	Aetherstorm Roc	5,966,990	138
6	Tyler Sontag	5,961,930	133
7	Piccoflute	5,957,790	65
8	random 8	5,951,390	96
9	Jeffrey Bardon	5,944,170	49
10	[TH]Sticky!	5,932,000	29

See also

• Chip's Challenge 2
• Microsoft's version of Chip's Challenge 1 on 64-bit machines
• Tile World
• Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2 (despite its name, CCLP2 is the first official level pack produced for CC1)
• Chip's Challenge on Wikipedia
• Exclusive

External links

• The full high score list, what the records are, and who set and confirmed which records. Maintained by a team of volunteer scorekeepers. (Originally maintained by James Anderson.)

Older high score sites:

• Jimmy Vermeer's list of the high scores on all CC1 and CCLP2 levels, which has not been updated since 2006.
• Alice Voith's list of the high scores on all CC1 levels, which has not been updated since May 1998.