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If you thought all troglodytes got up to in their caves was a bit of home decoration, you'd be wrong. In fact, they were inventing the world's first home security system. Dave puts on his leopard skin and does some prehistoric potholing.

Strictly speaking Stone Age shouldn't really be called Stone Age. Basically, there weren't any dinosaurs around in the Stone Age, but there is one in Stone Age. I suppose Silurian Age hasn't quite got the right ring to it and Jurassic Age might have seen Grandslam receiving a letter from the lawyers of one Mr S Spielberg Esq. So Stone Age it is and Stone Age it'll stay. (By the way, did I mention I'm being sponsored to say 'Stone Age as many times as possible?)

Anyway, this dino has crawled into a cave looking for some tasty morsels. Only he's chosen probably the worst cave in the history of history. The occupiers obviously weren't keen on ending up as humanburgers and have turned their home into a catacomb the likes of which wouldn't be seen again until Theseus unravelled that oversized jumper his nan had knitted him for Zeus-day and ventured forth to skewer the Minotaur.

Stone Age (that's another 20p) is a massive 100-level puzzle game. On each level you have to guide the dino from his starting block to an exit. This is no simple matter, because those pesky cave dwellers have left all sorts of puzzles to solve. Basically, there are only a few rocks the dino can stand on, and and he can't leap across the gaps inbetween. Instead, he has to make use of moving blocks.

Some of these move in four directions (up, down, left and right), some just two and others just one. Some other rocks crumble to dust when the dino steps off them and there are some Star Trek-style transporter blocks too (these stone age peeps were pretty advanced for their time).

And that's about it. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It isn't. Well, not after the first couple of levels, anyway. Like all the best puzzle games the mechanics of the thing are pretty straightforward, but loads of the levels are trickier than than trying to explain the plot of a David Lynch film. Often the most innocuous-looking screens are the worst, and Stone Age presents you with some devilishly ingenious puzzles to sort out.

Each level in Stone Age [Hang on, these mentions are getting a bit gratuitous - Ed] has a time limit, and a few are extremely tight. On the other hand, if you get a good few minutes for a level you know its going to be a headache to work out.

You get four lives, except they're not called lives. For a change it's your candles have to keep hold of. Fail to complete a level and a puff of wind plunges you into darkness. Lose all five of your candies you'll be doomed to wandering around in the pitch blackness until you die, rot, lie about for a few hundred thousand years, get dug up and be put on display in the Natural History Museum.

Apart from the impressive intro screens the graphics are a bit primitive but perfectly functional and clear. Stone... [Oi! - Ed] er, the whole thing is joystick-controlled. You select the blocks you want to move by positioning a box cursor over them and then pressing Fire. It's generally sound system but, unless you're careful you can move your Dino by mistake which isn't normally fatal, but can be if he's standing next to one of those blocks that crumble to dust at the time.

There's a password system so that you don't have to play any levels you've already solved each time you load the Stone Age [I'm warning you! - Ed]. You're awarded points for completing levels, but this is a pretty superfluous feature. The main challenge is working the levels out - once you've done that I can't imagine anyone wanting to replay them time and time again to try and improve their score.

It has to be admitted, Stone Age [For crying out loud! - Ed] is not the most original game ever - it's very similar to The Power and also doffs its titfer in the direction of Bombuzul. But then, there are loads of shoot-'em-ups that are all basically the same concept with interchangeable graphics.

Stone Age [Okay, I suppose this is the summing up paragraph - I'll let you get away with that one - Ed] is an engrossing game packed with some intriguing puzzles, but it's probably not something you'll want to play for hours on end; it's more the sort of thing that you load up when you've got the odd spare half hour or so to fill up. Basically, if you like puzzle games then you'll get your money's worth out of Stone Age. [By the way, Dave. This charity you're collecting for. It wouldn't happen to involve finding a refuge for homeless food in your stomach, would it? - Ed] Er, might be.

1. 100, count 'em, 100 ingenious levels.
2. The controls are dead easy to master.
3. Some of the levels are brilliantly tricky.

1. Not exactly bursting with originality.
2. The graphics are pretty basic.