Red Meanies isn't a political power game, it's more a version of Pac-Man played at ground level.
You are dumped in a maze, and must run along corridors gobbling up red cheeses. Like all good maxes, the routes all look the same and it's incredibly easy to get lost.
There's only a limited supply of cheeses, but apart from the red ones, there are a few green ones too. Green cheeses make red meanies (who will eat you) turn blue. Blue loonies are harmless and edible. While the green cheeses turn all the meanies blue, every time you eat a blue loonie a new red meanie will appear and stay red unless you can find another green cheese to eat.
Confused? Just wait till you play the game. Using the keyboard you press F to go forward, and a comma or full stop to turn right or left. All the keys are auto-repeat, so if you're not careful, you'll run headlong into a red meanie.
The number of cheeses of either colour left in the maze is displayed and when all cheeses have been eaten, a new supply is delivered. There is also an indicator of how many meanies are red/blue and how many of your three lives are left.
A good game with some neat fast graphics plus Salamander's usual high quality packaging. My only niggle was the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy style instruction sheet. It's fine if that sort of thing appeals to you, but if it doesn't then reading the instructions - or trying to! - becomes a bit tiresome.