Just opposite the factory where I served my apprenticeship were two of the three "hallowed halls". Right next door to the pub was the betting shop, and many a lunch hour was spent sliding between the two. I was never wildly successful as you can tell from the fact that I'm writing this review from sunny Stockport and not my yacht on the Med.

Of course, the rigours of mortgages put paid to my gambling career so I was filled with nostalgia when A Day At The Races arrived from Anvil Software.

The game allows up to five punters to place bets on horses which then race from one side of the screen to the other. Although that may not seem very far, the animation is such that each race takes about 90 seconds with the horses appearing to have galloped all the way.

There are ten races on each day's card. For each race the program randomly picks five horses from its database and gives the starting prices.

The odds are the only indication of form that you have, although the instruction sheet advises you to "pay careful attention to the race results to pick up hints and clues that might be useful to your future forecasts".

Once you've placed your bets, the race starts and you can do nothing more than watch. Well, that's not quite true because, like in the real thing, you can jump up and down shouting, "Come on!", groan and generally get involved.

Another realistic element is the fact that you can't get credit. When your money runs out, you just have to sit and watch. A Day At The Races costs £7.99 for the cassette version and only £1 more for the disc version. I wish more software houses had a similar small difference betweenthe two prices.

Although you could play the game on your own, I'd recommend getting a few crates of brown ale in - purely to sit on, of course - inviting a few mates round and having a bit of fun.