Nim is believed to have originated in ancient China. In its classic form, you have four heaps of counters with 7, 5, 3 and 1 counters in each heap respectively.

Two players take it in turns and may remove as many counters as they wish. The one who takes the last counter is the winner. The strategy can be defined mathematically and, once you know it, it's easy to win against an inexperienced player.

In this version, you play the computer and the objects being removed are cute little baby robots! On running the program, you are given the option of defining the number of lines (heaps) and the number of robots per line. Then you are asked whether you wish to go first, and the robots are displayed. The robots seem to be aware of their fate, because periodically they open their mouths and bleat!

After specifying the line number and number of robots to be removed, the robot executioner appears and marches up the screen, pausing to look at your response, before setting off to find his victims - if he has to go back to find them, he grumpily stumps his way down the screen! After finding the right line, he turns and gives a sinister laugh, before blasting the robots off the screen.

The program runs in 5K and uses the Atom's basic graphics. The author is to be congratulated on his imaginative use of graphics and this program is an object lesson in what can be achieved. It is well crashproofed and the instruction sheet is hardly needed, as the program provides all the necessary prompts. The tape also includes an Index routine so that you can set up your tape recorder.

This program presents a simple game in a most imaginative and entertaining way.