The original 'prize' adventure, the one that sparked off a series of similar programs with prizes, none of which quite came up to the splendour of the Golden Sundial of Pi, crafted in gold by Barbara Tipple.

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However, if the rival prizes didn't quite come up to this standard, the adventures, almost without exception, were about 5,000 per cent better!

PiMania has very little internal logic, several random elements, stunningly brief location descriptions, and takes the most amazing length of time to play.

The reason for this time expenditure is that the response is chronically slow, not that the player will spend a long time thinking, as there is really very tittle to think about that can logically be worked out. The problems seem to rely on trial and error tactics and there is the "Pi-Man" (an animated pest) to throw an extra spanner in the works.

After you have worked out the movement system (this is possibly the best puzzle in the adventure) making a move takes a super fast 40 seconds giving one just enough time to lob the cassette into a passing incinerator - a process I heartily recommend! (I exaggerate of course about the time, it's really about 38 seconds!)

Given the superb adventures now available for the Dragon, why you should ever give this one a second look escapes me, unless of course you think you could win that £6,000.