Due to the game's usual pattern of making it huge, clones of that game usually follow, and Clean Sweep turned out to be no exception when Pac-Man went giant in the arcade. However, while the basics of Clean Sweep were pretty much identical to Pac-Man (clean dot mazes, use special areas to flip your attackers' tables), the idea of the game changed completely as the player controlled a vacuum cleaner that was used to suck out the money the robbers were trying to steal from the exploded player's bank.
The player moves the vacuum through the maze to suck out dollar bills scattered across the screen. After vacuuming several bills, the vacuum size will increase. After a few increases in size, the vacuum will fill up and no longer be able to vacuum the bills, so money must be placed in the vault in the center of the screen before the vacuum starts collecting money again.
Robbers (who look like the player's blaster in the arcade game Tempest) begin to spawn by passing through two escape tunnels (as opposed to Pac-Man's tunnel) that run vertically and horizontally in the maze. If the robber catches the player, they will lose a life; Lives are over and the game is over.
Along with the use of escape tunnels (which warp the vacuum to the opposite end of the maze [i.e. entering the escape tunnel from below will cause the player to spawn at the tunnel entrance at the top of the screen]), there are four special rooms - one in each corner of the maze - in which the player can enter to be able to vacuum the robbers for a short time. However, after a few seconds, the Robbers will exit the Escape Tunnel again, and any remaining Robbers that the player was unable to vacuum up will begin flashing, indicating that they are reverting to their previous dangerous form.
The level of difficulty is increased by filling the vacuum faster, causing the player to make multiple trips to the vault over the course of a level.
The first game is a regular game, while the second game is a "lights out" variant where the walls of the maze are not visible.
- After a few levels are cleared, an infinity sign (toward 8) will appear where the level number used to be, and the thieves will stop chasing the player and just move through the maze in a certain way, never returning to their level. the previous level of difficulty. It is unknown if Clean Sweep was brought to market and it was not fixed, or if it was intentional (although it would be unlikely for the game to have its difficulty level maxed out that quickly).
- Another version of this game was released called Mister Boston, which was a promotional release for the company of the same name. The game is exactly the same, except that the player controls a cylinder rather than a vacuum, plus an announcement about Mr. Boston's company appears before the game starts. Less than 10 pieces are known to exist that can be sold for a very large amount.