In King Tut the player takes the role of Archie, a lion-hearted explorer who has entered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Egyptian pharaoh. In his quest for gold and glory he has to traverse the maze like corridors of the tomb until he finds the famed golden death mask. The game is played from a side view. At the start the player has a good view of his surroundings and can locate the position of the mask. However, the player's lamp is not reliable and will go out after a short time. The tomb will then become shrouded in darkness and the player will only be able to see what he is next to. So thereby the game gets a lot harder if the player is too slow. The player is not alone in the tomb. He has to watch out for it's guardians (mummies, scorpions, spiders and snakes) who will instantly kill him when he gets to close. When completing the game the player gets a score based on how much gold he collects.