Haunted House is a fast and challenging arcade-style game for the Electron and BBC Model B written by Peter Scott.

If your nerves are reactions are up to it, you take the part of a man trapped in a haunted room being constantly harassed by spooks, spectres and - don't ask why! - aliens.

To get out of the room the man must collect all the keys lying scattered around the screen. At the same time he has to get rid of all the nasties by shooting them with a laser.

He can then escape by running to the door at the top left of the screen. On the way he can gather various objects left around the room - and collect bonus points - but avoid the ghosts and cans.

You have a slight disadvantage in that the little man can only fire if you are facing sideways and, no matter what you do, the man keeps on moving.

The reward for all this is that you move onto a harder room with more obstacles, more treasure and up to twelve aliens.

The game features a high score table, sound on and off functions, a pause facility and, if you reach the fifth room, a bonus life so that you can face more of the dead.

It's weird and it's wonderful. Dare you play HAUNTED HOUSE?

Speed-Up Hints

• Use integer variables
• Use increments of one for line numbers
• Avoid lots of IF...THEN comparisons
• Use as few spaces as possible
• Avoid the use of VDU5 wherever necessary
• Use VDU codes instead of COLOUR, GCOL and PRINT TAB commands wherever feasible
• Use GOTO and GOSUB variables instead of IF ... THENs
• Place subroutines at the beginning of the program to avoid searching through lines

Try to beat the clock in this mental arithmetic program by Alan McLachlan

It seems the Electron is never satisfied. After all, it is the one that's supposed to have the mathematical brain - but in MATHS TEST, it asks you all the questions.

Still, it is fun trying to guess - I mean calculate - the answer before you run out of time.

And you can make the test as easy as you like.

SPLASH by Rog Frost is a two-player game of mathematical strategy that will entertain and intrigue both adults and children.

The idea is that a little man moves across a promenade towards the sea. He can only take a certain number of steps - chosen by the Electron - before he falls into the water.

Each time it is your turn, you must choose how many steps he takes by selecting a number from nought to nine.

Players take turns to pick a number and once that number has been chosen, it can't be used again. Meanwhile, the little man gets nearer and nearer the edge.

The idea is to force your opponent to pick a number that will make him fall into the sea.

As you can imagine, it's all good, clean fun. The target figure, running total and the numbers available are all displayed on screen, allowing the players to concentrate on strategy.

The controls are simple. You just type in the number that you want and press RETURN. The rest is up to you. Don't get wet!