Also a card game, Eights is identical to the traditional game of the same name in which your opponent is the ZX81. The computer displays and manipulates the cards and keeps both scores.

It is a game in which strategy is important. The program is apparently based on algorithms originally developed for a TRS-80 (is this blasphemy?) version of the game; whatever, it is certainly hard to beat. The computer has an advantage, of course, its electronic memory can remember the played cards much more readily than the humble human. As expected, the program obeys all the rules of Eights and will not countenance cheating. The program is long and uses more of the expanded ZX81's RAM.

Eights costs £4.95 and is available from Hardy Software, 18 Velindre Place, Whitchurch, Cardiff CF4 2AN