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The simple ideas are always the best ones. So goes that old Chinese proverb. And Imagine has kept to that idea with Leggit, for although the idea and the program are very simple, it's deceptively difficult to play.

As Leaping Lenny, you are placed at the bottom of the screen. Above you are eight thin horizontal lines which go up the screen like a wide ladder. Small gaps of about an inch in length travel apparently at random along the lines. When one appears over your head, you press the Jump key to rise up a rung. Apart from this key, your only controls are left and right.

The problem arises from the fact that, once you're away from ground level, the gaps appear not just above you but also on the line on which you happen to be standing. If you see a gap coming towards you, then you can move left or right to avoid it. When you go off the side of the screen, you'll reappear on the other but the gap will not.

The other infuriating point is that when you lose a life (by missing the gap and hitting your head, or by falling down to the bottom level from wherever you happen to be), you are stunned for about five seconds. During this time, while the stars rotate around your head, you are unable to move.

You can often fall down by three or four levels as a consequence of losing a life, and this is especially annoying as there is no skill involved. You may be lucky and fall down only one or you may be unlucky and end up at the bottom.

On the original Spectrum version of this game (called Jumping Jack), there wasw a poem which unfolded itself one line at a time after you reached the top on each of the 20 possible screens. Imagine seems to have had its poetic licence confiscated in this version though, as the poem doesn't appear (don't ask me how long it took me to find out!).

The other rewards for completing a screen are still there, though. After each screen a nasty appears which travels between the lines. These are deadly and will cost you a life if you hit one. A new nasty appears after each screen, making it pretty difficult to get to the top as the game progresses.

They say that a game is judged by how often you come back to it. I couldn't leave this one alone. I spent most of an afternoon trying to get to the top on the first level. The graphics are adequate and it's pretty addictive, although I must admit that a little of its addictive quality was lost after I'd finished the first screen.

The Dragon's got the right keyboard on which to relieve your frustration when you get knocked down by five levels! Remember, on a Spectrum no one can hear you type!!

Leggit runs on a Dragon 32. It's available from Imagine Software and costs £5.50.