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Back in time, when men were men and the west was still wild, life was not all John Wayne, indians and arrows. In fact, it was 350 days a year of pure boredom. But what of the other four days a year? Well, they're taken up with what is probably Summer Games' earliest American counterpart. Instead of Olympiads coming from the four corners of the world, passing strangers were asked to challenge the town's best sportsman.

Only six disciplines in this game though, but they do boast a mind dazzling 800 moves between them! Each one of the events is portrayed in wacky cartoon style graphics with excellent animation and colouring. And what of the events?

Arm Wrestling requires timing rather than brute force and determination. There is an icon of an arm in the top centre of the screen, and when the muscle on that is on its maximum 'flex' you have to push up on the joystick. This will make the muscles on your arm icon increase and force your opponent's arm further towards the candle. Didn't I mention the candle? Well, instead of relying on the referee's eye, the first that hits the candle will force the loser to scream out and declare his defeat. You can also cheat by propping your elbow up if the ref dozes off during the match.

After the wristbreaking arm-wrestling you have Beer Shooting. There are no scruples behind this event with the two town dunces being used to hold beer mugs, cider pots, glasses, bottles and a tiny little gold thing in the palm of their divvy little hands. You have to shoot the fire objects in succession without your opponent hitting any. In other words, it's definitely a case of being quick on the draw.

Fancy a bit of Dancing? You'd better, because that's what comes next. It's a case of Simon says I'm afraid. Do as the dancing girl does. This can prove fun, apart from the comments of some of the front row spectators. And there's an added problem, every time you become out of the step with the music the pianist becomes very irate and has to be pacified by a beer. And you can only afford three.

Now you have Quid Spitting. Not the coins but 'baccy. You have to bite off a large chunk then get the joystick going in a rhythmic left-to-right movement, to make it nice and malleable. Select angle and power and fire away. You can choose one of two targets for your globule of tobacco, your opponent's bucket (the real target) or the opponent's face. The only advantage to gain from a full facial 'baccy assault is that it slows your opponent down for a while and obviously distracts him from his chewing.

What could possibly follow that? It's the age old sport of Cow Milking. What will happen here is you will either sped the event suffering from a complete lack of timing with the cow beating your brains out with its tail, or you might get it together and pull a pint. I ended up with a headache and one very irate cow.

And finally to finish it all off nicely (if you're still alive that is) is the Eating Competition. Balance a mouthful of beans on your spoon, cram them into your mouth and chew with a true decathlon wobbling action on the joystick. If you don't waggle fast enough you wind up swallowing it whole and belching a lot. What I didn't find in the instruction for this event is that by going right and pressing fire on the joystick, you kick your opponent under the table!

The game is full of great effects, cartoon graphics, and background animation. The sound is great too, though that tends to be expected on Amiga software nowadays. Definitely the best sport simulation to date on the Amiga. Great fun too. One for the Christmas shopping list, if not sooner. Well designed, produced and executed, a sure fire winner pardner.