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Gilligan's Gold takes a number of familiar ideas and shuffles them about to come up with something just a little bit different.

A horizontal scrolling display reveals an underground mine, riddled with tunnels, and inhabited by a number of small animated human figures.

One of those little chaps is you. Being a mere human, you are naturally attracted by the numerous bags of gold that have been scattered about the mine-workings. Your job is to pick them all up, transport them to the surface via either lifts or the stairs provided, and dump them in your wheelbarrow.

Out to stop you are a gang of ruffians who will give you a good working over if they catch you. You must also watch out for the trolleys and the disused mineshafts.

So what's new? First, the hooks on the ceilings. You can jump up and catch hold of these, thereby dodging the trolleys which roll harmlessly beneath you.

Even better, if you time it carefully, you can drop down onto the trolleys and get a ride along the mineshaft - very useful for dodging the opposition when the going gets hot.

Ruffians can be disposed of (temporarily) by either hitting them with a pick-axe, a number of which lie scattered about the screen, or by dropping bags of gold onto them from above.

Don't underestimate their intelligence though; they can be pretty nippy if they put their minds to it.

Gilligan's Gold is one of those games that demands a good deal of practice. My only reservation is that once you'd put in the practice you'd be fed up with the game. Solid stuff, this game, but solid gold it's not.