The Pilg regularly receives adventures written by readers, and I'm pleased to be able to squeeze this one in since it's considerably better than the average effort and well worth the £2.50 asking price.

The game was written by Paul Gill (who calls his operation Rhinosoft) and concerns the struggles of Al-Strad to rescue Sally Software from the Evil Sink. Despite a certain air of childishness about the choice of names, this game is in fact very nicely put together and often amusing. There are many scarcely-veiled references to well-known figures and companies in the computer industry, including a rather unkind stab at Kevin Toms of Addictive Software, who you find in the form of a waxwork in his underground offices next to the Masterchronic Room.

Although it's text-only, Paul has gone to a lot of trouble here, redesigning his own character set and using windows for locations and input. The vocabulary is small by modern standards, but there are enough locations to keep you busy and the puzzles are logical and sometimes extremely tricky.

There are some obvious influences from other adventure programs like Scott Adams. Paul advises you that "I can't... yet!" if you try to do something at the wrong time or with insufficient resources. There's also a classic maze called (appropriately) The Forest of Deja-Vu, and the location descriptions are amusing, original, well-written and with not a spelling mistake to be seen! My only real quibble is that the program was obviously not written with green-screen users in mind, since the choice of colour combinations is at times not at all suitable.

Anyone with £2.50 to spare could do worse than order a copy from Paul. His address is 19A Bradgate Avenue, Cheadle, Cheshire, SK8 3AQ. Al-Strad is a good example of how a simple, home-brewed game can still give a Pilgrim a challenge and keep him amused as he struggles to find Sink's Lair...