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Over a year ago Leisure Genius brought out a computer version of the old favoutite board game Scrabble. Now there is an enhanced disk only version available tor the 6128 Scrabble is a word game for two to four players, in which any of the four players can be computer- or human-controlled. Each player has a rack of seven letters from which he must make words to place on the board. The letters have different tile values which range from one for the vowels and more common letters to ten for Q and Z.

On the board, there are five types of square: normal, double letter, triple letter, double word and triple word scores. The double and triple letter squares multiply the value of the particular letter placed over it. The double and triple word squares multiply the score of the whole word. The normal squares have no effect on the scoring.

When a word is placed on the board the computer checks if it is in its dictionary. If it's not, it challenges you as to whether or not it is a valid word. Answering in the affirmative results in the computer accepting the word - very generous of it. This reliance on your honesty means you can beat it hollow by making up words like ZAQHYER, but who wants to pay £16 just to get a superiority complex over a lovable CPC?

The updated version has an increased vocabulary of over 20,000 words, eight computer skill levels and a clock option. Skill levels five to eight scan through more of the vocabulary and often produce obscure words which you will probably never have heard of. I mean honestly, who ever heard of "ae", "ee", "odyl", "oy", "oo" and suchlike?

The clock option allows a time limit to be set for how long you and the computer have to place a word. The time limit can be anything from one second to one hour. The trouble is that, once set, you've got to keep with it - a much easier task for the computer than for you!

If you get bored of waiting for the computer to choose a word, you can force it to play whatever it's thinking about at that moment. If you are really stuck, you can ask the computer to give you a hint. It will scan your letters and the dictionary looking for a suitable word.

The game can be saved for play later via the quit option. There are only two colours on screen at any time. Shading is used to differentiate between the double and triple squares, but they do look different enough from each other to allow things to be clearly seen. There is no sound at all, but in a game like this, it's not necessary.

Scrabble worked fine on the CPC 464 with 64K RAM expansion. The thing that irritates me most about it is that you have to tap away on the cursor pad when you're trying to position your word, rather than having auto-repeat on the keys. If you like Scrabble and have trouble getting enough people to play it, then this game is for you. The computer opponents are tough at high levels and will give you a good game. The game is good, but expensive at sixteen pounds.

I've always enjoyed a good game of Scrabble, so it was nice to be able to take on a computer opponent. It's a little disappointing that they didn't make more use of colour coding on the board and that it's so expensive, but that may not worry the enthusiast. Ideal for one or more players, but if that computer puts down "oy" one more time I'm going to have Qozkiz on a triple word square!

Beat computer on level four.

It looks the same in green as it does in colour.

Graphics 17%
P. Everything is clear
N. ...but there aren't any graphics really

Sonics 0%
P. The only sound is the swearing as the computer plays another word which you have never heard of!

Grab Factor 68%
P. Solitary Scrabble fans will love it.
N. Not very attractively presented.

Staying Power 68%
P. Eight levels of difficulty.
P. Can also play with up to four people.

Overall 77%
A good game, but very expensive.