It has always puzzled me why people write computer simulations of games such as Patience, when they can be so easily played with an ordinary, ultra-low technology pack of cards.

In the computer version, I suppose, you don't have to shuffle the cards; and in the case of this game it's also im-possible to cheat, since the computer's error-checking is very thorough.

Haven Hardware's version takes one of the better-known patience games, in which the player must transfer all the cards of each suit to the appropriate piles in ascending order, aces at the bottom.

After shuffling, the cards are shown on the screen, set out in the time-honoured fashion of a right-angled triangle with a base seven cards long. Cards are then taken from the pack and placed on this triangle in descending order and alter-nating black and red.