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What kept yer then? Thought you'd be aht of chokey months ago! Oh, I see Jogn. Lost a bit of remission for bad behaviour, eh? Well now yer released, let's see if we can pull off a caper!

Better late than never, the Dodgy Geezers (previewed in C&VG October issue) made their first public appearance in the BBC in mid-November.

Newly released from jail you have it in mind to gather a few of the lads together and get onto a nice little earner. First you comb the neighbourhood, visiting all the dodgy places, the dogs, Joe's and a drinker or two.

Soon the germ of a plan will form in your mind, and you will have to do some careful and detailed observation to set the job up. This may mean playing the game from the start a number of times, and using the "hang about" command to keep an eye on particular places at particular times of the day and night.

Once you have sussed things out you can start all over again and, playing it right, will gradually gather some mates together for the job. Mind you, you might be better off without some of your mates - they can be dead dodgy!

I played both the BBC and Spectrum versions - the BBC from choice, as it is so much easier to use, and the Spectrum for the graphics.

These take the form of full-face and profile views of the villains, direct from the police records.

With them comes a rundown of the geezer's character, and a list of convictions. There are a few other pictures as well.

The way you start the game is crucial. If you don't make the correct sequence of moves, you will be disadvantaged without realising it, and make little progress later on.

However, by the time you are ready to make progress, you will almost certainly have replayed the opening sequence so many times, that you will have caught on!

Dodgy Geezers was set up on The Quill by Lever and Jones, who also brought you Hampstead and Terrormolinos.

Dodgy Geezers outshines them both. The vocabulary and parser is adequate, and there are some amusing messages - all written in Cockney, with a bit of rhyming slang thrown in for good measure!

The game captures the atmosphere of the characters and plot beautifully, and goes to make a very entertaining, and quite difficult, adventure.