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Did you know that God smokes cigars and has lost his favourite Zygotic receptacle? You didn't? Then you have not yet played The Quest for the Golden Egg Cup. This inexpensive entertainment distributed by Mastertronic is now on a flippy cassette - CRC on one side, Spectrum on the other.

An early Quilled version of this adventure appeared some time ago on the ZX Spectrum. Smart Egg Software, which enjoyed its light- hearted theme, has collaborated with the author in rewriting the present reincarnation using its own adventure system.

Although much of the original layout and storyline remains, several of the puzzles are different. Even the red herrings from the first version may now be used for a quite destructive, albeit finally productive purpose.

You may well get that feeling of deja-vu. Some of the items to be found may have first seen the light of day in other adventures, but do not expect them always to have quite the same uses or effects as before, Your character is that of a slightly dozy guy or doll who has been fatally run over by a C5 while walking down a motorway. Arriving in a Golden Temple, God offers the option of reincarnation - providing you find and return his missing golden egg cup.

The game is divided into a series of groups of locations, within which you may freely move around and explore. To move on to the next series a puzzle will have to be solved.

You start your quest right there in Heaven. Wandering around this section of eight locations is quite revealing. Examine, look in and look under everything you possibly can because your return is not permitted as freely as is your exodus.

A number of everyday objects - and some not so everyday - will help you on your quest. There does not seem to be any penalty for borrowing them, so you may as well take advantage of His generous understanding of your needs. You must find a way of getting these objects out of Heaven and down a giant beanstalk to the material world. Get as much out of Heaven as you can - everything can be used for something.

Not only is death just an unwary step away, but one of the independent characters may steal something vital from you during your travels. Stolen items can be found, but it is often less hassle to just reload your last save.

You may only carry a limited number of artifacts and anything dropped can be stolen. Try to learn exactly what you need for the next few puzzles and keep them about your person, Two characters roam freely around the game, Dandalf and Thoron. Their actions will often amuse, but they do present occasional problems with their acquisitive habits.

Shortly after reaching earth you encounter an interesting maze. It has quite a few locations and once you find a source of light you will need to map it carefully. This is not difficult because each location has a different description: Remain cool and remember to treat it as a maze, not as a normal box map.

There are plenty of clues to help you along the right path and the few people you meet can prove interesting. The text is full of humour and although the puzzles might appear daunting at first, they are not too difficult. Having solved the entry to the final section you will learn that three treasures have to be found to retrieve the missing egg cup. Trekking back and forth over the previous sections ferrying objects around will help solve the final puzzle. Good mapping and perseverance will pay off.

The parser will accept moderately complex commands, but no multiple actions are allowed. Fortunately program operation is fast, so retracing your steps is reasonably quick. Although the graphics are colourful, they are in no great detail and barely serve as a visual indication of where you are.

Quest For The Golden Egg Cup is a fun adventure. Solve it and you will be given a password to be used in a sequel. Whether this is spoof or true, we will just have to wait and see. I rather hope we can look forward to more of the same.