[{"titleName":"Pimania","publisher":"Automata UK Ltd","author":"Chris Edwards, Christian Penfold, Mel Croucher","yearOfRelease":"1982","zxdbId":"0003714","reviews":[{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 32 Top 50 Spectrum Software Classics, Nov 1984","price":"","releaseDate":"1970-01-01","editor":"","totalPages":0,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"The first move towards graphic adventures takes you on a journey through the mysterious Pi-Land in which objects have to be collected in the correct order so that the Gate of Pi and the Golden Sundial can be found.\r\n\r\nThe game combines puzzles with the slapstick comedy of the Pi-man who pops up from time to time and does incredible things with a saxophone. It is also one of the first games in which is hidden the secret to a prize, the Golden Sundial. The combination of innovative software and a challenging competition has made the product a legend.\r\n\r\nPosition 18/50","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"20","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 17 Book of Reviews, Mar 1983","price":"","releaseDate":"1970-01-01","editor":"","totalPages":0,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Pimania really IS different! It is a complete entertainments package!\r\n\r\nIt all starts with a flashing picture of the Golden Sundial of Pi, a prize worth £6,000 offered to the first person to solve the puzzle.\r\n\r\nThe player is accompanied by the Pi Man, who starts off by laughing himself silly, and proceeds to offer extremely disconcerting comments.\r\n\r\nThe game offers a series of puzzles and clues, interspersed with funnies Like a little man who for no reason walks boldly on to the screen and dances the Hokey Kokey to music, a dog that walks up to a tree and barks at it, and a commercial break offering Pimania tee-shirts in grotesque colours and sizes which are all out of stock!\r\n\r\nSo when the player gets thoroughly frustrated over a problem, the chances are that a good laugh is just around the corner.\r\n\r\nThe computer program is complemented by a catchy audio number or the reverse side of the tape, \"Pimania\" by Clair Sinclive and the Pimen. Show business, pork pies, and a deaf-aid among other things feature in this.\r\n\r\nI suspect that there are clues hidden in every part of the whole package, and that it will take a very long time to solve.\r\n\r\nOne thing is certain - it will never bore anyone with a sense of humour!\r\n\r\nPimania is available from Automate of Portsmouth and runs on the 48K Spectrum and 16K ZX81. It costs £10 for the Spectrum and £8 for the ZX81.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"5","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Keith Campbell","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[{"text":"CHILDHOOD FANTASY\r\n\r\nAdventure is what all small boys - and most bigger ones - long for. Remember all those childhood books that took you into a world at excitement and fantasy? Didn't you, like me, wish you were one of the Famous Five?\r\n\r\nAdventure gaming will take you one step nearer to your dreams. In the comfort at your own home.\r\n\r\nOriginally written tor large mainframe computers, these games have now been brought to the masses via the micro. Adventures are being published in ever increasing numbers for every popular machine.\r\n\r\nAn Adventure game makes you the would-be here. You move about from one location to another, examine things, pick up and manipulate objects, and solve puzzles. But all the time danger lurks and hidden enemies may strike at anytime.\r\n\r\nYour goal may be anything from collecting priceless treasures to saving the world from disaster. You become part of the story, the computer working to calculate what your actions will achieve within the plot devised by the author.\r\n\r\nDon't expect fancy graphics in an Adventure - although there are graphic Adventures. Expect words. Your imagination will provide the pictures - just like it does when you read a good book. And like a good book, you will find it just as difficult to put down.\r\n\r\nWhen buying an Adventure first discover if the scenario and degree of complexity suit your tastes. Games reviews will help here. Find out if the speed of the game is right for you as there is a great deal of variation.\r\n\r\nFrom my experience a minimum of 16K of memory is required for a decent adventure and from there on up the bigger the better. A \"save game\" feature is useful as it enables you to return to a game where you left it at a later stage without having to leave the machine running all night.\r\n\r\nIf your computer has sound and colour these will enhance game. But for the purist a good plot is enough.\r\n\r\nKeith Campbell"},{"text":"GAMES GLOSSARY\r\n\r\nIf you can tell a Pacman from a Defender and a Galaxian from a Space Invader you probably know your way around computer games.\r\n\r\nBut if some of the game terms we have used in this supplement, or in the issue itself, are new to you, then this page should supply the answers. In it we take some of the best known types of computer game and describe how they are played and what features these games normally incorporate.\r\n\r\nSo, if we claim that Penetrator is a \"Scramble-type game\" and that leaves you just as much in the dark about what to expect, then below there is a full description of Scramble to put you in the picture.\r\n\r\nASTEROIDS\r\n\r\nThe Asteroids came into the arcades courtesy of Atari. It features a small dart-shaped craft controlled by the player which can rotate left or right and thrust or fire in the direction it is facing.\r\n\r\nThere is one further control, the panic button (hyperspace) which lets you travel to another part of the screen chosen by the computer.\r\n\r\nThe enemy is mainly made up of large asteroids which sweep across the screen in large deadly groups of rock. When blown up these break into smaller fragments worth extra points.\r\n\r\nThere is extra danger supplied by two UFOs. The first larger creature you'll meet fairly early on. It tends to spray shots in all directions and often crashes into an asteroid.\r\n\r\nThe smaller variety is far more deadly in its own shooting and also more difficult to hit. Each cleared screen means you start again with extra asteroids.\r\n\r\nDEFENDER\r\n\r\nYou can't expect to keep a finger on every control button in Defender or you'd end up in knots.\r\n\r\nThe action, which takes place above an alien landscape, involves some seven control buttons and takes patience to gain proper mastery of your lone craft.\r\n\r\nThat patience can be rewarded though, as Defender is challenging from the word \"Go\". The Defender craft can go: up, down, thrust forward, reverse direction, fire, smart bomb and hyperspace.\r\n\r\nTen humanoids wander on the landscape and these may fall prey to raiding alien creatures known as Landers. Landers pick up the humanoids and take them to the top of the screen. If they succeed in getting there the Landers turn into fearsome mutants hellbent on your destruction.\r\n\r\nIn all there are six alien opponents. On top of Landers and Mutants, these are: Pods are quite harmless but contain the small and persistent Swarmers; Bombers seed space with white bombs and Baiters only appear if you take too long clearing a screen of the rest of the aliens.\r\n\r\nIf all 10 humanoids are captured, the planet explodes and all remaining alien life attacks your craft at once.\r\n\r\nDefender games usually feature a small radar screen which shows what is going on at all parts of the planet surface.\r\n\r\nFROGGER\r\n\r\nFrogger has spawned a whole host of computer games with a similar theme.\r\n\r\nThis game features a frog hero who must jump across a road and make his way across a river torrent to five frog-holes in the bank.\r\n\r\nThe busy road usually features live streams of traffic travelling in both directions at varying speeds, between which the player must hop his frog without wrapping it around any fenders.\r\n\r\nOnce across the road, the river can be crossed by leaping onto floating logs and onto the back of swimming turtles, until our frog can enter a vacant spot in the far bank. Turtles have a habit of diving though so don't let a frog dally too long on one. Being carried off the edge of the screen (by log or turtle) also results in a note in the funeral column of Amphibians' Weekly.\r\n\r\nWhen all five frog-holes have been filled, the game becomes more difficult with extra traffic being added to the road, snakes traversing the bank between road and river and alligators appearing instead of logs in the river.\r\n\r\nA timer running down on each frog also adds to the difficulties. The arcade original also featured a small lady frog who could be \"picked up\" on the logs and offered a lift home for a bonus. Other bonuses can be scored by entering a frog-hole in which a tasty fly meal has come to rest.\r\n\r\nDONKEY KONG\r\n\r\nDonkey Kong is the strange name for a climbing and jumping game which features a starlet-grabbing monster gorilla.\r\n\r\nOften referred to as Crazy Kong or Crazy Climber in the computer circles, it has only just found its way onto the home screen.\r\n\r\nThe game features a gorilla holding a girl captive at the top of the screen and an intrepid hero (Mario the carpenter), who starts at the bottom of the screen.\r\n\r\nBetween the two is a connecting network of platforms and ladders up which Mario must run to achieve his rescue. Kong hurls barrels down the screen and Mario makes use of his \"jump\" button to leap over them. He can also grab a hammer and smash the barrels as they approach him.\r\n\r\nOnce at the top of the screen a new complex is built with Mario, again starting from the bottom with a view to rescue. This time the screen features a series of conveyor belts and deadly fires which travel around on the ladders and belts.\r\n\r\nGALAXIANS\r\n\r\nThe Galaxians were the sons of Space Invaders. Instead of proceeding down the screen at a leisurely pace, they wavered at the top of the screen before swooping down in batches of two or three (or more often on a solo mission) firing bombs.\r\n\r\nThe player has the usual left, right and fire controls on his laser base and must take care not to get trapped in a corner. He scores double points for a galaxian hit in mid-swoop and there are bonus points for taking out the red fleet commanders, who usually descend flanked by their generals, dispersing bombs at such a rate that the first instinct is to flee for cover.\r\n\r\nThat is the essence of Galaxians but with each destroyed platoon, new waves appear at screen top and their attacks become more frequent, more accurate and, all too often, more deadly!\r\n\r\nPACMAN\r\n\r\nThe ghostly world of Pacman is made up of a dot-filled maze, a hungry dot-eater and four pursuing spectres.\r\n\r\nPacman variations can be found under a whole range of titles from Vic-men to Gobbleman, Snapper to Super Glooper and many others. Most dot-eating games are related to it.\r\n\r\nThe main character is the dot-eater, which travels around the maze, eating every dot he touches. His objective is to clear the screen of dots. He is hampered in this by the four chasing ghosts whose touch is lethal.\r\n\r\nThe Pacman's main defence against the ghosts, who usually number four, are energiser dots. These pulse in the four corners of the maze and, upon being eaten, reverse the roles for a short while.\r\n\r\nThis means that Pacman can turn the tables on the ghosts and eat them for bonus points. He is allowed only a few seconds of dominance before the usual hunter and hunted rules come back into operation.\r\n\r\nIt is also usual for fruits to appear on the screen occasionally and these too can be consumed by Pacman for bonus points. When Pacman has cleared the screen, it refills with dots and the game restarts except that this time the ghosts are a little livelier and a new fruit, worth extra points, appears at this level.\r\n\r\nSCRAMBLE\r\n\r\nScramble should have a big one-way sign on its cabinet. The screen rolls from right to left, taking the player's craft along it into ever-increasing danger.\r\n\r\nScramble variations often contain the word \"Mission\" or \"Attack\" but there are some weird and wonderful titles about.\r\n\r\nThe player controls a craft heading right across the screen over hilly terrain His craft can never turn around and opt out of its mission but he does have some control over his destiny.\r\n\r\nHis controls are up and down, fast and slow and he can both bomb and fire at his enemies.\r\n\r\nThe Scrambler is not usually equipped with enough fuel to complete his task, but it is normal to obtain more fuel by bombing fuel tanks on the ground and so (mysteriously) replenish his own stocks.\r\n\r\nThe enemies come in all shapes and sizes. Most common are missiles which fire up from the ground as your craft passes overhead and alien invader creatures which frequently inhabit caves and fly at the player's craft.\r\n\r\nThe original Scramble game sent the player through a series of different terrains with new challenges in each section. And most computer Scrambles attempt to duplicate this with a number of different stages.\r\n\r\nScramble requires a cool head which can find the right control in a crisis, but it makes an ideal computer game as success naturally leads to new and more difficult stages.\r\n\r\nINVADERS\r\n\r\nSpace Invaders started the whole computer game craze back in 1977 and most gamers know the format backwards. Still, just a brief resume...\r\n\r\nThe invaders come in waves above the ground and move in rows across the screen one step at a time, firing missiles earthwards.\r\n\r\nWhen one row of the aliens reach an edge of the screen, the whole platoon jump down a line and return back the way they came. When they achieve their slow progression to the bottom of the screen, the game ends.\r\n\r\nThe player controls a laser base which moves left to right and fires directly up from its position. His aim is to blow up the entire fleet before it reaches the bottom of the screen.\r\n\r\nFlying saucers move across the top of the screen in both directions and can be hit for a mystery bonus score. In the arcade original, top saucer scores of 300 were achieved by firing 22 shots before shooting at the first saucer, then firing 14 shots in between each subsequent saucer. Some computer versions have copied this technique."}],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Getting Started","score":"6/10","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Value","score":"10/10","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Playability","score":"10/10","text":"","overallScore":0}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 13 , Nov 1982","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1982-10-21","editor":"Terry Pratt","totalPages":116,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nStaff Writer: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Susan Cameron\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAdvertising Executive: Neil Wood\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Louise Flockhart\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £10.00, Overseas surface mail: £12.00, Airmail Europe: £20.00. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n© Computer & Video Games Limited ISSN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover: Stephen Gulbis\r\nNext Issue: November 16th","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"A specially commissioned £6,000 prize provides the best evidence that computer gaming has come of age. The Golden Sundial of Pi is the prize destined to grace the mantlepiece of the first person to solve an elaborate computer adventure, Pimania. Terry Pratt tried his hand at Pimania - and from his report his mantlepiece is likely to remain bare.\r\n\r\nPimania is an aptly named computer adventure game. It sends players around in circles and quite probably turns them manic.\r\n\r\nBut with a specially commissioned gold and diamond sculpture - valued at £6,000 on offer as a prize, it is well worth the risk of trying to discover its secrets.\r\n\r\nThe adventure comes in cassette form for the 48K Sinclair Spectrum - although there are plans to put it into other computers in the new year - - and is the brainchild of Porstmouth-based software house, Automata Cartography.\r\n\r\nThe idea follows the formula of the successful Kit Williams' book, Masquerade, which challenged readers to use clues in the book's illustrations, to discover the whereabouts of a jewelled hare which the author had buried at a secret location.\r\n\r\nAutomata's prize is the Golden Sundial of Pi and although it is still in the designer's studio, we will bring you a photograph of it in our next issue.\r\n\r\nThe sundial will not be hidden away but would-be solvers will have to sift through the numerous clues in Pimania to discover the \"time and place\" where it is metaphorically hidden.\r\n\r\nThe first person to get in touch with Automata and give the correct solution, wins the Golden Sundial. But the company's managing director, Mel Croucher is confident that it will be several months before anybody cracks it.\r\n\r\nHe told us: \"You go through a series of Gates of Pi and the last one reveals exactly what we want by way of a solution. We are not encouraging people to start digging things up but hope they will meet us at the correct time and place.\"\r\n\r\nPurchasers of the £10.00 cassette face their first puzzle almost as soon as the game has loaded - how to get started? The computer screen explains that one key will activate the game but then it's up to the player to press the right combination on the keyboard. I ended up going through the keys systematically before the obvious struck me.\r\n\r\nBut after that hints and clues are liberally scattered in an Adventure enthusiast's dream of frustrating mazes, unlikely treasures and abrupt dead-ends.\r\n\r\nEvery time you stop and start again the treasures will be redistributed around the maze - but you can save the game during a successful run.\r\n\r\nThere is also an entertaining array of responses to the sort of desperate drivel which adventure games usually reduce me to, the: \"Help! I can't take any more! Let me out!\", variety. The sense of humour is strong throughout and belongs to programmer Christian Penfold.\r\n\r\nHe is also responsible for some ingenious graphics routines and sound effects which chart the player's progress through the Pimania realm. Acting as the guide is a cartoon character called the Piman. I couldn't work out whether he was a friend or foe. He has a good line in merry quips, a penchant for collecting some bizarre items and the ability to double up as a very able chorus girl.\r\n\r\nThe program is written mostly in Basic and there are no elaborate precautions to prevent people listing it. But Mel Croucher is convinced that there are no short-cuts to the solution in doing this. He says: \"If people want to work out the puzzle by wading through masses of code, they are welcome to try.\"\r\n\r\nPart of the charm of Masquerade was Williams' insistence that the clues were just as accessible to a child's mind as an adult's. Croucher claims that this holds true for Pimania and another important criteria is that even after the competition has been solved, the owner still has a playable and well-presented game for his money.\r\n\r\nAutomata launches the game in mid-October and will be displaying the Golden Sundial at computer exhibitions.\r\n\r\nDespite my own failure to discover the solution, I am keen that Computer and Video Games should share in the glory of winning the Sundial.\r\n\r\nTo this end we will be referring readers' Pimania letters to Automata and hopefully printing any tips or helpful hints in our Mailbag section. So please write in if you think you can pass on something useful and perhaps the combined might of the C&VG readership can resolve the puzzle of Pimania.\r\n\r\nThe only tips I can offer are:\r\n\r\n- Look for clues even in the instructions.\r\n\r\n- Take a pencil and paper around the maze with you and map it out.\r\n\r\n- Dismiss nothing in the program - even the music should be noted down - it could be significant.\r\n\r\nGood luck and watch out for red herrings!","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"85","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Terry Pratt","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 10 , Jan 1983","price":"£0.6","releaseDate":"1982-12-16","editor":"Nigel Clark","totalPages":76,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editorial Director: Nigel Clark\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nProduction Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nStaff Writer: John Gilbert\r\nDesign: William Scolding\r\nEditorial Director: John Sterlicchi\r\nAdvertisement Director: Simon Horgan\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nStates Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nEditorial/Production Assistant: Margaret Hawkins\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd. it is not in anyway connected with Sinclair Research Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to any of the Sinclair User group of publications please send programs, articles or ideas for hardware projects to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nECC Publications.\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette and articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe will pay £10 for each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1983\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nOrigination by Outline Graphics.\r\nPrinted Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"PIMANIA IS GOING FOR GOLD\r\n\r\nPimania is a fascinating adventure game which has the added compulsion of a prize offered by the manufacturer to the first person who reaches the end of it.\r\n\r\nThe idea is to pass through a series of Pi-gates which exist in different places in space and time and eventually to find the place in space and time where the Golden Sundial, the prize, has been hidden.\r\n\r\nTo start the game the players must push the proper key on the keyboard. When first confronted with the task, the problems facing the adventurer seem impassable but the answers are so easy. In fact, it takes a child's mind to determine some of the clues.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are excellent and the Pi-man, a little cartoon character who can help or hinder the player, is an amusing and brilliant creation.\r\n\r\nSome people may not buy the game because they think that when the competition is over the game will no longer be fun. That is not true, as it has many twists and turns before the final answer is found. Locating most of them will take months.\r\n\r\nIt is the best adventure game we have reviewed for the 48K Spectrum and 16K ZX-81. It is available from Automata Cartography-Ltd, [redacted], and costs £10.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"21","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Gilbert Factor","score":"7/10","text":"","overallScore":70}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Your Computer Issue 1 , Jan 1983","price":"£0.6","releaseDate":"1982-12-16","editor":"Toby Wolpe","totalPages":148,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Toby Wolpe\r\nAssistant Editor: Meirion Jones\r\nStaff Writer: Simon Beesley\r\nSub-Editor: Paul Bond\r\nEditorial Secretary: Lynn Cowling\r\nEditorial: [redacted]\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Philip Kirby\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Bill Ardley, Peter Rice\r\nMidlands Office: Keith Salt\r\nNorthern Office: Ron Southall\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Jeanette Mackrell\r\nPublishing Director: Chris Hipwell\r\n\r\nYour Computer, [redacted]\r\nTypesetting: In-Step Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: U.K. £8 for 12 issues.\r\n\r\n©IPC Business Press Ltd 1983\r\n\r\nPublished by IPC Electrical-Electronic Press Ltd, [redacted]\r\nISSN 0263-0885","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"SPECTRUM SOFTWARE\r\r\n\r\r\nSimon Beesley brave attacks by trolls, bombardment by meteoroids, alien invasions and even English literature to bring you up to date with Spectrum software.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe quality of Spectrum software has improved since our last survey but originality remains in short supply. Most of the programs looked at are games programs and the bulk of these are modelled on the arcade classics, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Defender and Asteroids. Perhaps this is because the games-buying public is only interested in games that fall into a recognisable category.\r\r\n\r\r\nSome of the programs are written entirely in Basic. This need not count against them unless the program displays moving graphics.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe Spectrum's keyboard is not very suitable for fast-moving games although Quicksilva and Softek offer a joystick option on some games.\r\r\n\r\r\nSinclair has released a large range of programs written for them by ICL and Psion. By and large the ICL programs compare badly with those from Psion and have a rather amateurish look to them.\r\r\n\r\r\nEach of the tapes in the ICL games series, Games 1 to 4, contains four short Basic programs with titles such as Galactic Invasion, Skittles and Train Race. These are the sort of programs a reader might like to key in from a listing in a magazine. They are fairly simple and afford a limited entertainment for a short period. In view of their variety each package represents reasonable value although they are perhaps more suitable for young people.\r\r\n\r\r\nICL has also produced five titles in a Fun to Learn series covering Music, History, English Literature, Geography and Inventions. They present a variety of quizzes on their respective subjects. Players can compete against each other in a race in which correct answers send them further along the track.\r\r\n\r\r\nIt is difficult to know who these programs are aimed at. One soon runs through the stock of questions and the same names appear in different types of question. Some of the information presented is too obscure or eccentric to make the programs suitable for schools. In the English Literature quiz, for example, Ian Fleming rubs shoulders with Shakespeare and little-known seventeenth century playwrights.\r\r\n\r\r\nPsion's collection of programs is far more satisfactory. Hungry Horace is loosely related to Pac-Man but has a number of original features. Horace has to eat the flowers in a park while avoiding the park guards. Sinclair gives a fair description of Horace as a subtle and amusing cartoon-style game.\r\r\n\r\r\nPsion's 48K chess program was written in conjunction with Microgen. It plays a remarkably strong game even at the lower levels. As an averagely competent player I found it quite hard to beat at level two, although its play seemed to come adrift under pressure. The program's response time is quick and the pieces are quite easily distinguished.\r\r\n\r\r\nSpace Raiders and Planetoids are Psion's versions of the arcade games Invaders and Asteroids. Anyone who still has an appetite for these games will find the Psion products more than adequate. With Vu-Calc, Psion has scaled down a Visi Calc-type program to the dimensions of the home micro. These programs, which are commonly used on business micros, are usually described as providing a financial spreadsheet.\r\r\n\r\r\nThey enable the user to lay out financial data in rows and columns and enter formulae to run calculations on parts or all of the table. Vu-Calc supplies a range of commands for entering data, text or formulae and performing calculations.\r\r\n\r\r\nBasic programs which have been compiled by Softek's compiler, Super C, run - typically - 10 times faster. The compiler sits at the top of memory above RAMtop and is unaffected by a New command. It leaves room for a Basic program of up to 8K and a further 10K for data. The present version cannot cope with decimals, arrays or string variables. These limitations need not be too constricting. Strings, at least, can be stored in the data areas as ASCII codes and accessed through Peeks.\r\r\n\r\r\nAt £14.95 this is good value; particularly since it enables people to write commercially respectable programs without having to master machine code. However Softek insists that anyone planning to sell programs created with the compiler should negotiate for the rights. Softek claims that trace elements have been included to detect code written with Super C.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe arcade game Asteroids crops up on almost every micro. Softek's version Meteoroids is one of the fastest for the Spectrum with good colour and sound. Softime supplies the Spectrum with a digital clock and alarm at the top of the screen which remains there while other programs are loaded and running. The last program in Softek's list is Zolan Adventure, a standard text adventure game which has the merit of fitting into 16K.\r\r\n\r\r\nQuicksilva gave Time Gate considerable advance publicity claiming it would make as great an impact on the computer games' world as had Atari's Star Raiders. As it turns out the game closely resembles Star Raiders. Given that the Atari is a rather more sophisticated computer it is not surprising that the Spectrum version of the game does not match the original.\r\r\n\r\r\nTime Gate presents a view from the cockpit of a spaceship. An instrument panel below contains a long-range scanner and a variety of other indicators giving information on the ship's position and damage incurred. Your mission is to clear 18 galactic sectors of enemy craft.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe business of locating and firing on enemy ships is not as interesting as attending to all the other procedures. The controls are not as responsive as on the Atari. Nonetheless this is an elaborate game with excellent graphics - certainly one of the best so far for the Spectrum.\r\r\n\r\r\nIn an impressive piece of synthesised speech Quicksilva's chess program announces itself at the beginning with 'this is the Chess Player'. Rather startlingly the packaging relates how the Chess Player, an Evil Being, has called for a challenger from Earth. The planet's survival hangs on your game - and you thought you were just going to have a quiet game of chess.\r\r\n\r\r\nIn the event the program plays quite a strong game with the option of six levels of play. The board is clearly displayed and the pieces are well designed. Psion's chess program, however, is probably the better player.\r\r\n\r\r\nMeteor Storm, another version of Asteroids, also announces itself but rather indistinctly. There is not much to choose between this and Planetoids or Meteoroids. The major problem for software companies writing an Asteroids-type game must be in finding an alternative title.\r\r\n\r\r\nSpectres from Bug-Bvte gives a novel twist to the Pac-Man concept. Eddie the electrician has to rewire a haunted house. Instead of eating or picking up objects in his path he lays down light bulbs. Reaching one of the four power generators enables him to illuminate the house and drive off ghosts.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe game has a highly individual flavour. The characters which glide around at a fairly leisurely pace, are engagingly different from the standard Pac-Man figures. This is one of the more original games yet to appear for the Spectrum.\r\r\n\r\r\nGulpman from Campbell Systems is also based on Pac-Man but refreshingly breaks away from the standard format. It offers a choice of 15 different mazes and allows the speed of play to be set. At the highest levels your little man dashes around the maze at quite a pace.\r\r\n\r\r\nBy contrast Jega's Specman, written in Basic, is dismally slow. Sometimes the ghosts seem to be stricken with paralysis and unwilling to take up the chase.\r\r\n\r\r\nEscape from New Generation Software is a variation on the maze theme which involves escaping from dinosaurs. The dinosaurs - brontosauri, pterodactyls and such like - pursue the player's character with considerable animation through the maze which is shown in bird's-eye view.\r\r\n\r\r\nSilversoft's games Orbiter and Ground Attack are probably the best Spectrum versions of the arcade games Defender and Scramble. Ground Attack requires the player to fly a plane through a series of caverns and avoid or destroy missile attacks from the ground. Scramble from Work Force is similar but marginally slower. Likewise Avenger - Abacus' version of Defender - is competent but not quite as accomplished as Silversoft's.\r\r\n\r\r\nMYSTERY MEETING\r\r\n\r\r\nA gold sundial worth £6,000 is the prize for the first person to solve all the clues in the adventure game Pimania. As in Kit Williams' book Masquerade, deciphering all the clues will lead the winner to a meeting at a specific time and place with representatives from the authors of the game, Automata Ltd.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe other side of the program tape contains a disco single. Automata say that the clues are scattered in the music, the program and the graphics. Although we did not proceed very far with the quest the music and opening graphics seemed to bear out Automata's claim that the world of the Pi Man is totally bizarre.\r\r\n\r\r\nMelbourne House has based The Hobbit, on the novel by Tolkien. It helps to have read the book in finding your way about.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe Hobbit is claimed to be an advance on other adventure games because it introduces other characters from the book who react to the player in the role of Bilbo with an independent life of their own. It also allows you - in a limited fashion to enter sentences rather than single words as commands.\r\r\n\r\r\nIn practice these extra features do not amount to much and give the program greater scope for the sort of inconsistencies adventure programs are prone to. Thorin, for example, repeatedly enters the scene and tells you to hurry up. This is irritating because you were unaware that he had left and he seems to be totally devoid of constructive ideas. It is not a good idea, however, to kill him off since he sometimes proves too strong for your attack. Furthermore the manual suggests that you should stay on good terms with the other members of your party if you are to succeed in your quest.\r\r\n\r\r\nMany of the locations in the adventure are illustrated by some excellent graphics. We only managed to complete 7.5 percent of the game during which the text was accompanied by six different pictures. The graphics coupled with a more varied plot than usual make The Hobbit superior to any other adventure games available for the Spectrum.\r\r\n\r\r\nBoth the assemblers tested, from ACS and PI software, require Z-80 mnemonics to be entered in Rem statements and both allow addresses to be replaced by labels. The ACS assembler, Ultraviolet, costs twice as much at £7.50 but offers several extra features. It allows multiple statement lines and provides five pseudo-instructions such as DEFS, which inserts a string of ASCII characters at the current assembly position.\r\r\n\r\r\nACS also supplies a disassembler, infrared. Like the assembler this has two different versions for 16K or 48K machines. The program is easy to use and docs all you might expect from it.\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Games 1-4\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Hungry Horace\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Fun to Learn\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Chess\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Vu-Calc\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Space Raiders\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SN\r\r\nProgram Name: Planetoids\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: QS\r\r\nProgram Name: The Chess Player\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: QS\r\r\nProgram Name: Time Gate\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: QS\r\r\nProgram Name: Meteor Storm\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SF\r\r\nProgram Name: Super C\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £14.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SF\r\r\nProgram Name: Meteoroids\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SF\r\r\nProgram Name: Softime\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £3.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SF\r\r\nProgram Name: Zolan Adventure\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SS\r\r\nProgram Name: Orbiter\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: SS\r\r\nProgram Name: Ground Attack\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: MH\r\r\nProgram Name: The Hobbit\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £14.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: AU\r\r\nProgram Name: Pimania\r\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\r\nPrice: £10\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: WF\r\r\nProgram Name: Scramble\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: AB\r\r\nProgram Name: Avenger\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: CS\r\r\nProgram Name: Gulpman\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: JS\r\r\nProgram Name: Specman\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: AC\r\r\nProgram Name: Ultraviolet\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £7.50\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: AC\r\r\nProgram Name: Infrared\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £6.75\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: PI\r\r\nProgram Name: Assembler\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £3.75\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: NG\r\r\nProgram Name: Escape\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\r\n\r\r\nCompany: BB\r\r\nProgram Name: Spectres\r\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\r\nPrice: £8","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"50,51,52","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Simon Beesley","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"ZX Computing Issue 5 , Feb 1983","price":"£1.85","releaseDate":"1983-01-28","editor":"Roger Munford","totalPages":132,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"ZX Computing\r\nVol. One\r\nNumber Five\r\nFeb/March 1983\r\n\r\nDeputy Editor: Roger Munford\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jeff Raggett\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Beverley McNeill\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\r\nManaging Director: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Henry Garnett Ltd., Rotherham.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1983","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"I thought Pimania was the reason I'm two stone overweight until I received Automata's new adventure program for the 48K Spectrum. Advertised as 'The Adventure Game that's for Real', there is more than just satisfaction awaiting the person who cracks this puzzle. If you interpret the clues correctly you can work out the time, date and place where someone will be waiting to hand over the 'Golden Sundial of Pi'. The Sundial is £6,000 worth of gold, diamond, lapis lazuli and obsidian, crafted by the award-winning designer, Barbara Tipple. The prize is on show at Southsea, and will also be displayed at computer fairs and exhibitions (accompanied by Securicor, I hope, in case anyone thinks of a less subtle method of winning it!).\r\n\r\nThe program starts in a none-too-friendly way with dire threats against anyone attempting to pirate Pimania. Then you have to work out the 'key' which unlocks the First Gate of Pi, and you get to meet the Pi Man for the first time. This all-singing, all-dancing little creature appears from time to time in the adventure, and may help or hinder your progress.\r\n\r\nBAKED BEANS\r\n\r\nThe adventure itself is not a particularly large one, around 20-30 locations, with only short descriptions. The locations are logically connected, and you move between them by entering a number, which may or may not have been suggested in the description. Objects are randomly scattered around, and a pretty odd bunch of objects they are - a cross between the 'Generation Game' conveyor belt and the adverts that come after. A cuddly toy, hula hoop, pork pie, baked beans and quite a few others are to be found, although I didn't have time to do anything very useful with them afterwards!\r\n\r\nThe program's vocabulary is described as 'absolutely vast', but if you exclude the objects and words which have no useful effect, the actual vocabulary is pretty small. The processing of words entered is reasonably quick, but if the phrase is not understood or a number is entered which is not a valid exit, the command is rejected and the location re-displayed on the screen. This makes the game rather slow to play.\r\n\r\nAutomata are (in)famous for their ZX81 'cans of worms' programs, and despite the attempt to go more up-market with Pimania, some of the program is distinctly seedy. Rancid sewage pipes flow into clogged canals, watch out for the scab-infested odorous pit and you can guess what the sound effects are when you collect the baked beans! If frustration causes you to use language more suitable for the 'can of worms', you will be harshly punished by the Pi Man.\r\n\r\nALL SINGING, ALL DANCING\r\n\r\nWhere the program does score is in the large number of tunes and the clever use of moving user-defined graphics. The tunes range from the 'Hokey Cokey' complete with dancing Pi Man, to a gratingly not-quite right rendering of 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' when you collect the Valium!\r\n\r\nI didn't have sufficient time to work out how the objects relate to each other or to the locations, so I haven't any idea what the solution is or what form it might take. But with so many objects, tunes, locations and graphics, some or all of which may provide clues to the treasure, there's certainly many hours of detective work to put in.\r\n\r\n'Pimania' is £10 and is available from Automata Ltd., [redacted].","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"32","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Phil Garratt","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 1 , Sep 1983","price":"£0.85","releaseDate":"1983-06-16","editor":"Deirdre Boyd","totalPages":116,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Deirdre Boyd\r\nConsulting Editor: Geof Wheelwright\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nAdvertising: Peter Goldstein, Herbert Wright\r\nAd Production: Laura Cade\r\nPublisher: Fiona Collier\r\nPublishing Director: George Littlejohn\r\n\r\nCover and Action Freeze! Illustrations by Mark Watkinson\r\n\r\nPersonal Compiter Games gratefully acknowledges the support of its sister magazines, Personal Computer World and Personal Computer News, and their journalists, who have contributed to this magazine.\r\n\r\nTypesetting by: Spectrum Typesetting [redacted]","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum (other versions available for Dragon, ZX81 and BBC)\r\nSUPPLIER: Automata Software\r\nPRICE: £10\r\n\r\nI'm not too sure that Christian Penfold and Mel Croucher should be allowed to walk the streets. Both of them are obviously warped...\r\n\r\nWhat we have here is a world where saxophones turn into hang-gliders, where red herrings swim across the bottom of the screen blowing bubbles of derision, and where snatches of music confuse, hinder and occasionally help you. Along the way you'll be greeted by a blatant appeal for cash - they promise to send you a T-shirt, but what makes you think you can trust them? Throughout your adventures you'll be involved with the Pi-Man who will give you presents of useful things like blackboards, then next minute rob you blind.\r\n\r\nIt's a same that encourages all that is noble in the human spirit - namely naked, ravening greed. The prize is a specially designed £6,000 gold and diamond sundial. Whoever wins it will certainly deserve it, but will undoubtedly be a gibbering lunatic by then.\r\n\r\nSeeing as there's so much at stake, I'm not going to tell you too much - why should I help you get rich? Suffice it to say that it's an adventure. But the objects are not your run-of-the-mill swords, magic rings and potions - you pick up TV dinners, cans of worms, handfuls of valium...\r\n\r\nThe object is to get through the Gate of Pi, which will reward you with a place name and date. Turn up at the appointed time and an Automata person will hand over the goodies.\r\n\r\nThere are potential clues in everything, probably even in the horrendous 'disco single' on the other side of the program tape.\r\n\r\nThe Pi-Man does a mean hokey-cokey. The animation makes nonsense of the fact that the Spectrum is a slow computer. And the cassette case should carry a government health warning: this game can damage your brain. It would appear that Automata staff are not expecting an early winner - if no one shows up on the first date set they promise to return at the same time on the same day of every year until the prize is won.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"104","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Steve Mann","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 1 , Feb 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-01-19","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":112,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Automata, 48K\r\n£10.00\r\n\r\nThere's not much to be said about Pimania, the game that launched over night the insignificant Pi Man to fame and fortune. The game is wacky, daft, weird and infuriating by turns and to date the famous prize worth £6,000 (plus index linking) has not been won. Although it runs on standard adventure game lines it takes lateral thinking into the realms of higher (or perhaps camp) art. Slow responses but that hardly matters, Pimania is a disease which overcomes most things!","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"64","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 2 , Mar 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-02-23","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":112,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Automata, 48K\r\n£10.00\r\n\r\nThere's not much to be said about Pimania, the game that launched over night the insignificant Pi Man to fame and fortune. The game is wacky, daft, weird and infuriating by turns and to date the famous prize worth £6,000 (plus index linking) has not been won. Although it runs on standard adventure game lines it takes lateral thinking into the realms of higher (or perhaps camp) art. Slow responses but that hardly matters, Pimania is a disease which overcomes most things!","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"67","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 4 , May 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-04-19","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":128,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Automata, 48K\r\n£10.00\r\n\r\nThere's not much to be said about Pimania, the game that launched over night the insignificant Pi Man to fame and fortune. The game is wacky, daft, weird and infuriating by turns and to date the famous prize worth £6,000 (plus index linking) has not been won. Although it runs on standard adventure game lines it takes lateral thinking into the realms of higher (or perhaps camp) art. Slow responses but that hardly matters, Pimania is a disease which overcomes most things!","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"76","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]}],"reviewsCount":10}]