The storyline features an astronaut and his dog who explore an Egyptian tomb (as revealed in the opening sequence) and need to find the Pharaoh's Jewel by solving puzzles spread over three levels.

[2] While earlier first-person maze-exploration games date as far back to the 1976 Commodore PET, Scarabaeus was considerably smoother and in color.

This is operated by a crank, and the player needs to rotate the joystick through all directions in order to move the elevator down to the next level.

The aim is thus to take the spider on a long journey around the maze, giving the astronaut enough time to study the alcove and solve the puzzles within.

The left-hand ones are made by a 4x5 grid of hieroglyphs like the ones collected on the previous level, linked to a bottle of potion, who can be medicine or poison.

If the nine hieroglyphs fit in those grids, taking the mask will give the player a zombie trap, otherwise a loss of energy will occur.

The player must line them up in conjunction with the clues given in a limited number of moves otherwise the puzzle will lock and he will have to try again on another part.

Successful completion opens the puzzle to access the inner sanctum where the Sacred jewel Scarabaeus lies winning the game.