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This company have a large range of over 30 programs of which I have been able to see and review over half. They are of a very mixed standard and I would advise you to see the program you are thinking of buying to see if it is one of the better ones. This may prove difficult though as these programs seem to be sold only by mail order. I can however recommend some as being well worth their money.

The best program in the set by far is the 32K Logo which sells from £6.50 on cassette or £8 on disc. This is a very good implementation of turtle graphics, although it is not by any means a full logo. It has a very wide command set including some simple provided functions (Squares, triangles etc) and three variables besides SIZE, which affects defined functions. Defining new functions is very easy although the editor cannot be used to expand a definition once defined. There is support for arithmetic on the variables and it can even save and load screens to disc or tape. All told an extremely well thought out package and excellent value.

Another good program is Tripute which is at the lower end of the price range. This is claimed to be a unique way to improve mental arithmetic involving addition and subtraction and revolves around three sets of three numbers. From these sets of numbers one has to calculate all possible addition and subtraction permutations and then decide which of the possible answers to these is shared by all three trios of numbers. Sounds complicated doesn't it but once you decipher the instructions (which do have a little more detail!) it is really very addictive and would increase the speed of calculation if used regularly.

By contrast there is the Childplay Pack 1 which is very poor value for money indeed despite the fact that it contains four programs. Two of them are written so that they never finish which is not the best way to encourage or give children motivation to do more or better. Spell-away has a speech option but doesn't check to see if speech is actually fitted and so if you answer in error the program hangs up. Fractions is acceptable but nothing more I'm afraid. If all you wish to do is let your child play then this is a reasonable package but I can't recommend it's educational properties much.

Then there is the 'Odds On' series. This is a case of a good idea being applied across the board for there are programs covering Monarchs, Writers, Inventors. Geography and Musicians. They are really sets of multiple choice questions held together and presented in a betting game format somewhat like a television quiz you may know. You have so much money and can bet on the answer you choose and depending how sure you are that you are correct you bet lesser or greater amounts. Unlike the quiz game the money won is purely notional but that doesn't prevent me from feeling thaI it is not the sort of program to play too much with young and impressionable youngsters unless you wish to suggest that gambling is not harmful, a point Gamblers Anonymous might well take issue with. There must be better ways to encourage learning and I'm not sure that the learning of facts, however interesting, is what 'education' is really about. If you really did want to buy all the programs in this series then you will end up buying the base program five times. I cannot see why they cannot market the driver program and then the databases for the subjects separately thus saving money in the long run.

Then there are those programs which aren't explained properly and rather go over one's head if you don't concentrate very highly. Numberhang and Get The Message fall into this category and I'm still not certain that I understand them fully. but perhaps I'm a little remedial or just too old for their subtleties. Base 10 is a game meant to improve mental arithmetic and even has a high score table but I have reservations here too. To me the game is too fast. difficult to understand and doesn't have too good an educational concept either.

Dave Reeder