Quiztimer

CrashCrash Smash

Overall 9/10

Rosetta McLeod 9/10

CRASH COURSE Rosetta McLeod A LITTLE LEARNING LESSON FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON? This month, with the help of a panel of children, Crash Course looks at some Chrismtas Crackers! First of all, though, there is some good news on the educational front. A new organisation, British Educational Software Associates, has recently been set up to improve the availability and distribution of educational software. Eight firms (ASK, Bourne, Calpac, Collins, Griffin, Hill MacGibbon, MacMillan and Widgit) have formed this new marketing consortium to help selected retailers service a market which, according to Roy Davey, marketing director of Collins Soft and Hill MacGibbon, is 'diffused and frustrated'. He feels, quite rightly, that schools have difficulty in finding a retailer who offers a good choice of software together with a fast ordering service, and who allows the customer to view programs before purchase. BESA has now appointed 200 retailers throughout Britain who will stock a 'core list' of 40 programs and will be able to meet orders for other titles from some 250 in the catalogue within 48 hours. Support for retailers will be handled by Proteus, the leading educational software distributor. This is a very welcome move, both from the point of view of schools and of home users. Up till now, most of the high street stores have paid only lip-service to the area of educational software, and it is hoped that the promotion of BESA in local newspapers and in information hand-outs to schools will begin to rectify matters. If the experiment proves successful, the consortium would hope to expand in 1986. More information about BESA can be obtained from BESA at [redacted]. But now on to this month's software selection, I asked a panel of children, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years, to look at the programs with me, and to decide whether or not they'd like to get the games for Christmas. Each game was awarded a score out of 10. QUIZTIMER Producer: Macmillan Software Retail Price: £5.95 Age Range: Questions can be altered to suit any age Author: Blackboard Software There are many quiz programs on the market, and this is one of the best I 've seen. The computer is ideally suited to the role of quizmaster of course, but not all the available quiz games are as flexible as this one, which can be played by one or two players, or even by two teams. One side of the cassette contains the game and information about it, and you really have to run through the instructions quite carefully. The game consists of a word supplied with several letters missing, and also a clue. The time taken to answer the questions is also important as this will affect your score. Once the main program has been loaded, the player has to choose a password which is necessary if you want to see answers and clues before starting the game, or if you want to change the questions. The menu gives the following options; load quiz data (from a choice of 10 subjects ranging from Food and Drink to Greek Mythology); single or two player game: alter the time allowance; select pictures or words; view/alter quiz data and create and save new quiz data. The best thing about this program is its flexibility - it has endless potential both for home use and for schools. The game is thoroughly enjoyable to play, and it also provides a useful educational experience, giving at the end a list of all the words you didn't get or that you spelt wrongly. You can also obtain a print-out of what is being shown on the screen, and the whole thing can be transferred to Microdrive if desired. COMMENTS Control keys: whole keyboard used Keyboard play: fast Use of colour: clear and vivid Graphics: good Panel's comments: Good game. You could play it for ages without getting bored, and it was quite easy to put in you own questions. This is the best of all!