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Aspiring entrepreneurs are advised to play Print Shop before setting up their own business - they may find the world of free enterprise is fraught with more perils than they realised.

Should you prove that you have what it takes to be a successful print shop owner, fame and fortune await you. However, should you fail to turn a respectable profit after fifteen weeks of business, it's the bank that will be wanting to pay you a call.

As owner and sole proprietor of your print shop it's up to you to decide on basic questions every business person faces - how many staff to hire, how much stock to purchase, what rates to set for customers, and so on.

While the instructions of this text game could be a mite daunting for those of us who don't fancy themselves future accountants, the basic economic commonsense of the program comes through loud and clear as soon as your decisions begin to have effects on your bank balance.

Some video test games are strictly a bore, with about as much imagination as a laundry list. Happily, Print Shop is an exception.

The game is neatly and intelligently divided up into monthly financial statements, customer orders, inventory lists and cost breakdowns.

It sounds dry and dull but it isn't. I and other players soon found ourselves totally preoccupied in trying to determine the best course for our fledging business.

One thing that's fortunately missing from Print Shop is the element of chance. If you try to gouge a customer on an order, the bright red legend "ORDER LOST" appears on screen, as sort of a moral lesson against greed.

But at the same time there's nothing quite like the thrill of realising a £100 profit on an order of wedding invitations that cost you £350 to produce.