Painting by numbers

I loaded Number Painter from ASK Software and let my two boys, aged 10 and 12, play with it - they were still playing it two hours later at bedtime.

Then my daughter, 17. and her boyfriend took over and I did not get a chance to play until the next day. and even then I had to get in quick before the boys came home from school. I give it thumbs up for interest and playability.

This is a girders and ladders program, another new twist to an old theme. The painter, who is beautifully animated, has to collect numbers to match a target figure using familiar keys or joystick.

Each number has a +, —, *, / sign and it gradually gets more difficult through 12 different levels. Success is rewarded with more difficult brain teasers and vice-versa.

The little man has four incarnations called Mr Plod, Mr Walker. Mr Speedy and Mr Swift. You choose the starting level and speed.

If the player tries to get a number which is too large - above 999 - or below zero, or if the painter falls through a hole in a girder, the game is frozen and there is time to work out the sum. However, once the man is moving, time is limited by a rising bucket that floods the screen with red paint when it reaches the top of its chain and the man is lost.

> The age range is supposed to be from five to 14. A five year old would have great fun on level one. but even when I cheated on my calculator. I couldn't do level 12.

The instructions are in big, clear type and easy for an eight year old to read. The graphics and colour are very good.

Sound effects are used in a realistic way and they can be made louder or softer by a Ctrl-S command - very useful. The one big fault with this program is that the authors have not disabled the Break key and if it is pressed the program is lost and has to be re-loaded. This takes 2.4 minutes from tape.

> A second section to this program is a self test which puts a series of sums on the screen at the level you choose and times the response.

Buy your child this game and he will gain a better understanding of numbers. But if you are a teacher, be prepared for each child to want the micro all day.

Alison Cernyw-Hughes