Many quarters perished in the (vain) pursuit of escape. Berzerk is sad by the standards of today's games but the strategy and tactics are timeless.
Ironically in the current world of free games, this one would never survive. But when a kid, and a quarter had to be earned by mowing the lawn, cleaning something, picking up five bottles from the roadside and getting your parents to take you to a store that would give you the redemption, the amount of time spent per quarter was a HUGE factor.
It's laudable that gaming publishers figured out that with the advent of ubiquitous access, giving the game away, getting the user hooked and then offering an in-app purchase would work.
