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In the mists of time, mathematicians were composing puzzles for people to solve. Today you can walk into a games or toy shop and buy a puzzle, such as the infamous Chinese puzzles where you have to separate two shaped pieces of sprung metal.

Rubic has had thousands of people scratching their heads with his infernal cube and fiendishly clever Rubic's Magic, not to mention the cleverly-designed and difficult clock.

Many people love solving puzzles set by others. They can sit there fiddling, never stopping. For innocent onlookers, train spotting would seem more appealing. Until recently, puzzles have been restricted to physical objects or have been written on paper. Computer puzzle games are, perhaps, more varied and interesting. One of the most publicised puzzle games is Terris. This game from the U.S.S.R. involves fitting shaped objects in a line before they fill the screen area.

Today, puzzle games have not become any more sophisticated but they are varied. Take, for instance, MindTrap, a game which is not so much exciting as interesting. Mind Trap is a problemsolving game with a difference.

A series of dice are displayed in a particular shape. Only one side of the dice is shown and the whole shape consists of dice with different numbers shown.

The object is to manipulate the dice so that each column on the shape consists of the same number. The columns must also be in number order from left to right, which makes the game doubly difficult.

The dice are manipulated by rotating a set of four. In the lust few levels of the game th e cursor can be moved round any set of four but by level six the cursor is restricted to certain areas and completion in the time limit is almost impossible.

In the beginning, players will think that Mind Trap is a doddle but when past the first few levels things begin to become more difficult. As the time counts down you are no nearer to completing it than thirty seconds ago and you have only a short time left.

Mind Trap will keep the most ardent puzzle solver bemused for hours. Each time you play the puzzles are slightly different. The shapes stay the same but the positions of the dice change, thus providing a different puzzle each time you play.