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Obsessed by Shanghai? Itching for Shanghai II? This snack won't spoil your appetite...

Anyone foolish enough to have tried Activision's Shanghai should beware of this clever little Oriental puzzler - it's just as likely to have you virtually welded to your Amiga for a similarly ridiculously length of time.

Like Shanghai, the principles are easier to grasp in situ than to explain in words, but here goes anyway; you are presented with a tableau of stones laid both next to and on top of one another. Each displays a funny ancient symbol. Click on one symbol, find another replica stone, click on that, and see them disappear. Trouble is (and here's the tricky bit) corresponding stones will only do your bidding if they have free edges, so if a stone is surrounded by loads of others you can't get at it.

Thus, the puzzle is to clear pathways through the collection of square stones, so you can get rid of them all within the short time limit. Of course there are zillions of variables too complex to discuss here but, as is usual with good puzzles, the rules are easy-peasy to understand once you get started.

To win, all you'll need is quick thinking and a lot of patience. Once you start playing there's no time to think about trivia like the washing up, or where your next pint's coming from - total concentration is essential. Thankfully though, this isn't - unlike Swap say, also reviewed this issue - one of those games which needs to be thought through before you get started. Everything has to be done on the move. If you clear a screen within the allotted time you'll move onto another one, and beating it first time will be nigh on impossible unless you are gifted with a most uncluttered and analytical brain. As the timer counts down an audible beat becomes louder and more unnerving (like the one on Countdown on TV), and bouts of panic can set in unless you fix your mind completely.

My complaint would be that some of the Chinese-type symbols on the blocks look similar enough to each other for it to get a little confusing, but once you're really into the thing your concentration level becomes such that distinguishing between one set of wiggly lines and another becomes pretty easy.

Sarakon is one of the most transfixing games around, and, although it can hardly be described as a spectacular piece of programming, it is a sure-fire way to lose all touch with reality.

Another addictive puzzler from the Far East, which fans of Shanghai will find familiar, but still appealing in its own right. If you don't already own something similar, buy this game...