A dream of a genie

I needed no more than about 30 minutes' play to realise that here was another brilliant conversion of a Magnetic Scrolls winner. An excellent text and graphics adventure, Jinxter has been co-written by Michael Bywater - "Punch magazine's master of wild invective", lauds The Times - and the Magnetic Scrolls development team.

The game is poles apart from the usual witches, wizards and warlock type of adventure. It's very funny for one thing, and for another there is nary a smidgeon of hackneyed hobbits, tiresome trolls or boring berserkers.

This jolly jape is set in Aquitania, a green and pleasant land blessed with luck and laughter, a land where accidents and misadventurenever dare show their miserable faces.

But all this good fortune and general well-being has not come about by chance.

As with many tales of fantasy and fable, there is often a worm in the apple. In this case it's several worms, going under the name of the Green Witches.

Said witches are always looking for ways of causing trouble, but are kept in check by the magical powers of a special charm bracelet. Should anything untoward happen to this bracelet, those mischievious green warts might start up their nonsense again.

And now by an amazing coincidence, just as you boot Jinxter, the bracelet is nickedand its charms scattered to the five winds. Having bought the game, you have no choice but to assist by recovering the charms and so prevent the said green hags from getting too uppity.

All this information is imparted as you leave the bus to be mown down in the prime of your life. You cannot avoid this tragic beginning of a game in which you cannot die even when confronted with seven busy dwarves or an axe-wielding intruder. It is here that you are given the above synopsis, though this flashes by so fast that I couldn't read it.

The giggles come in many guises: For example, one of the characters you'll meet from time to time is the Guardian from Beyond the Realms of Time. Opting out of wearing the traditional long flowing robes, with associated sceptre and appropriate wise and sagelike aspect, he's a sullen and reluctant time-server attired in a herring bone overcoat. Think of a less articulate Arthur Daley and you'll have some idea of the character.

"What's the point of wossname, immortality," he grouses, "if you can't get a decent bit of cheese in your sandwich, narmean?"

Although his vocabularly lacks something in breadth, you'll find there are places where you'll need to emulate it. For instance, the charms have to be referred to as the doodah, thingy, oojimy, watchercallit and doofer when you want to cast a spell with them.

As the Guardian so succintly put it, you task is to "Just find the watchercallit, say the doodah and thingie's your wossname. Charm. Word. Bob. Uncle. Narmean?".

The characters in Jinxter really make the game zing. There's a Billy Bunter of a baker who won't take you onas his assistant until you've learned how to bake a decent loaf. The cantankerous village post mistress thinks she's a Calamity Jane - and just how do you stop her doorbell from ringing?

Who is responsible for all the bizarre goings-on in your house? And with what can you bung the hole in the canoe? I looked high and low for old Glitch, thinking he was perfect for stuffing into a crevice, but no luck. The mouse is an adequate substitute, but if you use it you won't be able to solve a later puzzle.

The text is rich and witty and there is an attention to detail that very few other adventures can match. The folding deckchair, for example, has bloodstains on it - if you've ever wrestled with a deckchair, you'll know how they got there.

The ticket inspector on the bus, the North-facing conservatory, the Whicker chair, thebenches in the pub garden, the gravel path and the plum roll area few of the many items which will well reward an examination.

Try dialling some well known numbers like 999 or 192on the phone for further examples of theprogram's depth and wit.

Many delights and surprises await you in Jinxter, anadventure in which the only harm you can do yourself is from laughing or head scratching.

Although only available as part of the Hyperpack it is a delightful and welcome addition to the Archimedes, and as it works out at £7.50 it's a bargain. 'Cuse me now, I must have another chat with the gardener.

Bob Chappell