Video Poker

Your Sinclair

Graphics 3/10

Playability 6/10

Value For Money 3/10

Addictiveness 6/10

Overall 4/10

Rick Robson 4/10

Mastertronic £1.99 Reviewer: Rick Robson Who on earth would want to try and top Sam Fox's Strip Pole? Certainly not Mastertronic which keeps to a poker simulation without the stimulation in this little number. Sure, it's good, clean family fun - and dead boring with it. If you're a fan of the Cincinnati Kid rather than kinky underwear you'll still be disappointed. Video Poker's similarity to the saloon bar game is simply superficial. All it actually does is copy one-armed bandit poker games and as such has all the average skill quotient of a fruit machine. There's only one screen and unfortunately you can only play against the Speccy - a real cheat if ever I knew one. All bets are made blind (you start with twenty coins), thus cutting out any chances for bluff, double bluff and upping your stakes - in other words no Blind Mans Bluff! You can hold any of the five cards dealt and there's one re-deal for an exchange. As in card poker you're looking for all the classic hands, from pairs (and we're not talking Sam Fox here) to Royal Flushes. Each winning hand has set odds - a pair is evens, two pairs 2-1 and, if you're lucky enough to get one, a Royal Flush is 250-1. Odds, of course, favour the house but your best bet is still to dive right in there with the big stakes as you won't get a chance to change your mind once you're playing. Your kitty is appropriately adjusted with each hand played. Video Poker has no frills, or thrills, unless you're an ardent addict of the one-armed bandit - and there's no nudges or big knobs to play with here! if you are it might save you a few 50ps otherwise you'd be better off buying a pack of Sam Fox playing cards.

ZX ComputingZX Computing Glob Minor

Overall Grim

Mastertronic £1.99 What you think of this game will depend very much on your attitude towards playing solitary card games. Personally, I've always felt that playing card games (or board games) on a computer was a poor second to playing against a 'real' opponent. This is especially true of a game like poker where the element of bluff is such an important part of the game. The presentation of the game is quite slick; the screen display is a replica of the video poker arcade machine, with the five cards in the top half of the screen and the 'hold' buttons, betting information and your money displayed beneath that. The cards slide onto the screen from above, and there's quite a neat effect that gives the impression of the cards being turned over. The inlay gives details of all the different types, of winning hand and there's an onscreen table of belling odds that can be called up. The weakness of the game is that you're really just playing on your own. All the computer does is to deal the cards and keep track of your money; there's no attempt to use the computer as any sort of 'intelligent' opponent, so you're reduced to just deciding which cards to hold on to. You can't bluff your opponent because there's no opponent to bluff (there goes my Cool Hand Luke impersonation), and as you make your one and only bet before you see any of the cards you can't even risk losing your shirt on an inspired (or insane) series of 'raises' and 'calls'. There are five skill levels provided, but the only effect they seem to have is to load the pack against you, which is an easy way around the need to provide a computerised opponent. Visually this is one of the better implementations of a card game that I've seen on the Spectrum, but until someone can program the machine to play poker like Edward G. Robinson I'll stick to the real thing.

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

John Gilbert 4/5

Label: Mastertronic Entertainment USA Price: £2.99 Memory: 48K Reviewer: John Gilbert The odds are against you in Mastertronic's Video Poker. You can't win on a pip-card pair - only a double or royal pair will do. You get five cards, pushed on to the screen and turned in a neatly animated dealer motion. The standard rules of poker apply. You get your stake back for a royal pair but a royal flush gives you a 250:1 return. I managed to keep my small pile of nickels topped up but never hit the jackpot and betting is frustrating because you can only place a maximum 10 coin stake during every game. For me, though, the whole point of poker is missed by it being only a one-player version. You versus the computer as dealer. The computer doesn't generate other players and so you can't bluff. What good's poker when there aren't any opponents to out-psych? Video Poker has more in common with those arcade machines where you guess the next card to be higher or lower. It's not really poker but it's quite compulsive for all that.

Crash

Use of Computer 38%

Graphics 36%

Playability 30%

Getting Started 44%

Addictive Qualities 28%

Value For Money 39%

Overall 35%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Mastertronic Retail Price: £1.99 Author: Probe Software This is a version of the game you'd see if you were in the arcade halls of the gambling capital of America. The idea is to get the highest hand of cards possible and win as much money as possible. The screen shows what would be the front of an American Video Poker machine. The top window displays the cards, which can be turned over or changed. Below this are the hold buttons and the gambling section where you decide how many coins you are going to place as a bet. As this is an All American game the money which you gamble with is American currency - you begin with twenty coins, whether you chose nickles, dimes, quarters or dollars. There are five skill levels, ranging from very easy - where predicting the cards is relatively straightforward - through to the fifth, where it really is down to pot luck. You begin with five cards, all face down. A decision must be made on how much money to place as a bet. Pressing Space releases one coin at a time from your 'bank' into the betting window. When you're happy with the stake, a press of the Enter key reveals all... At this point you can have a completely new hand dealt or choose to hold certain cards. Pressing Enter activates the dealer. The screen will now either start flashing madly, signifying that you have won enormous loads of boodle, or it won't, meaning that you haven't. The game continues in this way until you're totally nickle-less. Just like real life, really. COMMENTS Control keys: ENTER to start, SPACE to select coins, ENTER for cards to be dealt, keys 1 to 5 to retain cards Joystick: keyboard only Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: adequate Graphics: no surprises Sound: spot effects when you win or lose Skill levels: five Screens: one main playing screen

At first glance it looks as if you've held a pair of Jacks, but look again. The new cards are being turned over. Could be another bum deal.