Introduction

To most people a life in the "Civil Service" does not sound an exiting one and its appeal seems to lack that of some of the more "interesting" occupations. To most people, it is a world full of "piles of paper", "official stamps" and grey-suited "pen-pushers". Not the sort of environment in which to get away from life's dreary day-to-day routines or to stimulate your more energetic "drives". However, to these who spend their working day dealing with those "piles of paper" and wielding those "official stamps", nothing could be further from the truth... though not even they had the slightest inclination of how far!

Over the years routines had become firmly entrenched in their way of life and the likes of old Hobbins - whom some said had passed away some twenty years before - were still to be found in the dark and dusty corners of the various offices throughout the land. However, all this was to change and the "Powers-that-be" were about to embark upon a new scheme to recruit the more upwardly-mobile members of society into the ranks of the service. Old Hobbins would he swept aside, along with all the other unwanted rubbish, when the "new brooms" moved in.

In order to recruit these go-getters, the government decided to "privatise" the service and to allow the new owners to choose their own method of selection. Unfortunately for the prospective new employees their new bosses were a select committee of ex-army majors who used their past knowledge to dream up a new form of "entrance-exam" ... if that is what it can be called.

This new "entrance-exam" is to take the form of a "survival exercise" and will be run by a team of invigilators ... each with the task of watching every movement of the hopeful participants. Success will he dependent upon the skill, cunning and ingenuity of those taking part and will, in no small way, play a very important part in bringing about their selection for the "service".

So it is up to you... Can you survive the "entrance-exam" and can you perform the many tasks set by the invigilators??? Only time and this game will tell...

Notes

The task in hand is to locate, and return with, the six jewels hidden by the invigilators. So once you find them just put them in your container and make your way home again...

Should you encounter any of the invigilators simply SAY HELLO in order to learn what you have to do... What could be easier? Mind you, it all depends upon whether they bother to reply or not and whether the information they divulge is of any specific use to you.

This game will recognise all the standard commands such as EXAMINE THE WALL and OPEN THE CONTAINER, but the usual "two-word" commands will suffice in most cases. Use the commands RAMSAVE and RAMLOAD in order to "store" a game-position in memory. However, always use the more standard SAVE and LOAD to make a more permanent record to tape or disk.

Hints