If your kids are at an age when snowmen and Jack Frost just ain't hip no more (which these days seems to be anything over three years old) then this adventure, which is aimed at a slightly older age group than The Last Snowman is designed for, is more likely to hold their interest.

The circus has come to town, and like most children, the main character (who we'll call Fred for the sake of argument) wants to run away and join it. So off he goes to see the ringmaster to ask him if he can join the circus. The Ringmaster says he'll consider it, but he gives Fred loads of tasks to do before he will accept you [This sounds like exploitation of child labour to me - Ed]. So you find yourself running around playing throw-a-dart, hoopla and loads of other stuff.

The Big Top has been written by Ronnie Slater using GAC, so it features loads of pictures. When you first load up the game you're requested to input whether you're male or female; entering certain locations can depend on sex. To get a list of the vocabulary just type in HELP. The adventure is easy to map although I reckon that some of the puzzles would be a bit tricky for very young kids; the EXAMINE command comes in very handy in a couple of locations. I think it would be more suitable for kids aged 10 years and up (but who's to say you haven't got a child prodigy on your hands?)

One thing I found annoying (which probably means that children will love it!) is that the game won't work with the graphics mode turned off. But overall, it's a fairly decent game that should stop your kids kicking footballs through your neighbours' windows for at least a couple of hours.