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Diamond Mine is simple in concept and the graphics are nothing special, but I found myself spending a long time at the keyboard. This is one of those surprising little games that always manages to tempt you back for another go.

Using the ZX:? keys you must guide a pipeline down through a maze in an attempt to reach the jewels that are lying there.

You cannot get the pipe to go back on itself. and you mustn't let it touch the walls. If this wasn't difficult enough, there are four little beasties patrolling the maze who will take a mouthful of pipe if they come across it.

Contact with wall or beast results in your pipeline being withdrawn from the maze, at which point you must start again from the top.

You start the game with 6,000 feet of pipe, and lose a length every time it collides with anything other than a jewel. Exactly how many feet you lose depends on how much pipeline has been let out at the time.

There are eight jewels to start with, and if you manage to reach one the machine gives a whoop of excitement, the pipeline turns blue, and the diamond is whisked back up to the top of the screen.

Some of the jewels are harder to reach than others and score more accordingly. There is a hi-score table (which defaults to a challenging 10,000) and a new screen appears if you succeed in clearing three mines in succession.

Diamond Mine is a simple game but quite a find for all that.