Remembering the Arcade Game “Leprechaun” or “Pot of Gold”

I was racking my brain last night trying to think of a video game that was appropriate to discuss this St. Patrick’s Day. I had a vague recollection of a video game that had a Leprechaun as the antagonist, but for the life of me, I could not remember much else about it. I did remember it had a rainbow on its attract screen and that it might have been a game made for kids.

So this morning I did some sleuthing and found the game, Pot of Gold in my MAME folder. This rang a bell and seemed vaguely Leprechaunish, so I fired it up.

This was the game! A quick search revealed that the game was distributed under as Leprechaun AND Pot of Gold. The arcade near my house had one branded as the former.

Leprechaun was manufactured by Enter-Tech in 1982 and licensed from Tong Electronic Inc. It was also manufactured as Pot of Gold by a company called Game Plan. The difference between the two appears to have been the target audience. Leprechaun did have a smaller cabinet and was aimed at younger gamers.

Leprechaun is a creative maze-like game. The objective is to move around a magical forest and retrieve a pot of gold. While moving towards it, you touch trees which change color and act as bonuses for when you finally get the treasure. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Well, not so fast Finnegan, because a quick-moving Leprechaun is out there to thwart you. He will move across the screen, removing your bonus trees and even moving his pot of gold.

Leprechaun Gameplay Video

Leprechaun is a real treat to play and the perfect retro video game accompaniment for St. Patrick’s Day. So why not pick yourself up a Shamrock Shake, fire up MAME, and play a little Leprechaun today.