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Qix is the latest in a long line of Atari releases based on popular arcade games. Its appearance as a cartridge for the Atari 400 and 800 computers comes after the traditional year or two of bench-testing in the country's arcades.

You control an Etch-a-Sketch type line on the screen and must manoeuvre it to capture territory. You do this by drawing rectangles at either fast or slow speeds, and the territory you capture is 'painted' in red or blue on the screen.

Opposing this voracious video imperialism are the Qix and the Sparx. The Qix are spikey balls which roll around the screen and the Sparx are little sparks which travel along the lines you have drawn. If the Qix 'hits' you while you're trying to fill in a square of territory, you lose a life.

If you hang back from capturing territory to avoid the Qix, the Sparx will travel along your video trail and again end your on-screen dynasty.

When you capture 75 per cent or more of the screen, you get bonus points and a new screen. After two such screens you have to combat two Qix at once and the pace of the game quickens. The closer you get to capturing 100 per cent of the territory before the screen changes the more bonus points you get.

Although it's a marketing gimmick the company uses on many of its packages, I still object to having a 3" x 2.5" game cartridge enclosed in a box three times that size.

I experimented with a number of the wilder playing possibilities to begin with. I tried drawing slowly a line straight across the screen to capture territory in the higher-scoring red colour. I was battered by the Qix and lost a life.

I then reverted to the conservative incremental strategy where you build up small blocks of territory before making a big sweep to one of the screen walls and capturing a big chunk.

It didn't take more than an hour or so before I hit on a guaranteed, rock-solid way of getting high scores. I simply drew a short vertical line, and then a long horizontal line - an 'L' turned 90 degrees to the left.

I then trapped the Qix in the 'L' and completed the capture of the territory at the top and right of the screen.

Qix gets boring pretty quickly once you have the time to figure it out at home. This is one of those rare beasts that makes a great arcade attraction because it holds your interest for the short periods but fails when you play it at length in the home.