Number Painter is an excellent and entertaining educational maths program for five to 14-year-olds.

It's in two parts: a timed self-test and the main game which has a screen layout reminiscent of Acorn's Monsters. Scattered about the levels are random numbers and operators, and at screen top are two numbers; one being your starting number and the other the target which you must match by moving a painter around the screen to paint out the appropriate numbers, which are used to perform arithmetic operations on the starting number. Each sub-game has a time limit and each new game is introduced by an appealing graphics routine.

You can choose both the speed of play and level, a combination which gives 48 different levels of difficulty, the highest of which will test the reactions and mental arithmetic of any age group.

Instructions are first class and capable of being understood by the youngest of players and the cassette is packaged in a strong box. My only criticisms are of the difficulty of reading white on red random numbers in the game and the use of arrows in the self test equations.