Patience

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 1/5

Playability 4/5

Use Of The Machine 2/5

Overall Value 2/5

Max Phillips 2/5

NAME: Patience APPLICATION: Card game SYSTEM: ZX Spectrum, 16K PRICE: £5.95 PUBLISHER: Haven Hardware [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Assembler OTHER VERSIONS: ZX81 due next month OUTLETS: Mail Order, [redacted]. GOING IT ALONE Playing Patience on your Sinclair Spectrum sounds a little odd. After all, a computer game is supposed to provide opponents and team-mates when the real thing is in short supply. But the Haven Hardware patience cassette doesn't play by itself. It merely acts as a hi-tech pack of playing cards. OBJECTIVE Patience plays an ordinary single-pack Carlton, the patience most people play. The cards are dealt into seven columns with the base of each being face upwards. The idea is to build up the four suits in order, uncovering hidden cards and incorporating the remainder of the pack as you go. FIRST IMPRESSIONS The cassette comes in a sealed polythene bag with a scruffy A4 instruction sheet. One side of the cassette has the title typed on a small label and glued in place. The instruction sheet proudly names Haven as the winner of the Daily Express/Philishave award. It couldn't have been for presentation. The program itself is a much more professional product. There's a separate 'leader' program to check that the Spectrum is loading all right. IN PLAY The program presents a tidy card table, the cards being shown as 1 to 9, J, Q, K and A followed by their suit. It is usable in black and white but you lose the red of hearts and diamonds. Playing it is simple. You specify where you want to move a card from and to by pressing its column number, P for the pack or S for the suits box. The Delete key is disabled, so if you make a mistake you must think of an illegal move in order to correct it. Haven lets you replay a game from the start without shuffling the pack, so you can have several attempts at a rotten hand if you need to. And that's all there is to it. VERDICT Computerisation has brought two major changes to patience. It's harder to cheat, though Haven make the game easier by letting you turn through the pack an unlimited number of times. And you don 't have to waste time shuffling and straightening out columns of cards. It might be an interesting demo if the program played itself. But as it stands, it's an odd way of passing the time.