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Every Friday evening, Paul Daniels hosts a jolly quiz show thing, which only one of the Zzap lads claims to watch. Now, those clever chaps from Domark have taken the idea and turned it into a computer quiz game called, amazingly enough, Every Second Counts.

The first decision you make is how many teams are participating (a choice of up to three), then you adopt a character and his/her partner: a pointy fingered icon appears above a rogue's gallery of six people, three male and three female. Once a choice is made, the player is asked to select one set of questions out of a possible five.

The first round, like all the others, involves answering true or false to a series of questions which appear at the bottom of the screen; the answers are revealed at the top. Up to nine questions are available in a round and, as in the TV programme (so we're told), if one pair answers incorrectly, they are frozen out. Each question is worth two points, and the couple with the lowest score start each round.

Round two is the same, but the players swap positions. Once as many of the questions as possible have been answered, the first bonus section appears. The player types in the answer: if correct first time they earn a ten second bonus: if incorrect, each subsequent wrong answer loses one second from the clock. If, at the end of ten attempts, the answer is not found, the poor competitors earn zilch.

On the TV programme, the contestants are given the chance to win fabulous prizes - no such luck on the computer, however. This time up to seven triangular lights must be extinguished by picking a category from a choice of two. The amount of seconds earned in the main part of the game are displayed, as are the three possible answers to the question asked. At first, four of the seven lights must be extinguished; with subsequent questions five, six and finally seven lights have to be put out.

Oh no, not another computer game based on a TV quiz show! Yep, following hard on the trail of Bob Holness and Co, Paul Daniels has to stick his oar in. At least there is one consolation - no digitised Paul Daniels phizog looming on the screen, although one of the contestants does bear an uncanny resemblance to Steve Davis.

This type of game is great fun for a while (and I'm a fan of the TV show), but sadly the inevitable flaw crops up time and again. The questions are all right when asked the first or second time - and can maybe be tolerated a third - but after that the novelty wears thin, and so the game quickly finds itself relegated to the back of the software shed.

It's fun to play for a while, but the lack of variety in the question department soon leads your attention elsewhere.

As with Blockbusters, the TV Games programmers have made the best of an uninspiring job: playing Every Second Counts manages to provide some entertainment for a few games. The questions themselves are varied in subject and suited to the show's style sometimes humorous and rarely difficult - and the addition of a reaction test adds a little excitement to the proceedings, particularly in the final round when seconds are vital.

Graphics and sound are used well, and though the tune isn't the greatest, it's not offensive. However, as with all such games, this stands or falls on the length of time before questions start being repeated. With only six sets to load in it doesn't take that long; at any rate, the question supply outlasts general interest in the gameplay.

Presentation 69%
Adequate instructions, and a three 'team' play option.

Graphics 67%
Neatly drawn contestants; but generally, the graphics are simply functional (and why does the colour of their sweaters change every so often?)

Sound 41%
Barely tolerable title tune, not much else.

Hookability 70%
Fans of the TV show will love it, fans of quiz games will quite like it; fans of neither will hate it.

Lastability 38%
The lack of variety and limited number of questions won't keep many playing for long.

Overall 52%
Doesn't have the lasting potential to be a great game.