If you thought 2023 was crap, think again!

Some entries are accompanied by emails that ramble on at length about the virtues of the attached software, or that go into exquisite technical detail. Some are not and the latest entry falls firmly into the last camp. The crux of Dave Hughes' email was, "Here's another one" That was it, fortunately, the game itself has instructions built in. All quite straightforward, keys O,P and SPACE. I should be able to handle this though after my dismal reactions in Jamie's Art House I'm already worried about maneuvering Tom Cruise at speed, especially a younger Tom Cruise. To prepare myself I google Tom Cruise's running speed, apparently, he claims to have been clocked at 17MPH, the power of the Internet agrees that this is probably true. No Usain Bolt, but a very decent speed. I press SPACE expecting to launch into action, but I needn't worry, there is another screen of explanation.  I have questions, I know a lot is made about Tom Cruise's height, but he i...

There are many good questions in life that need answers and some of those answers are 42. Yet, 42 is clearly not the answer to the question of what a past C.S.S.C.G.C host does with all their spare time when they no longer need to review crap games. If you are curious what the answer is it is answered admirably by Jamie who has just submitted his 3rd entry to the contest. It would appear he regrets having so much spare time on his hands and is eager to regain the position of host for next year. So what delight do we have this time round? The program is titled Art House, a title that might mislead one into thinking that it is a utility of some sort. It isn't! Instead it is a fiendish little game that appears to be a marriage between Snake and Jamie's previous entry Etch A Sketch. I'll let Jamie describe it, "Art House is a tiny art making game set within the boundary of 1 single attribute. The gameplay takes place across 6 levels of various difficulties. In each level y...

When is a game, not a game? When it is a toy! I remember the Etch A Sketch, I remember wandering down the toy aisle in Woolworths and twiddling the dials on this marvel of technology. But never in my remotest imagination would I have classified it as a game. It was a toy, just like the spirograph and other wonderful ways to spend time until the Spectrum came along. Hence when Jamie tells me that he has " made a game and an application" and then presents me with Etch A Sketch I'm dubious about its game qualifications. We will leave that until later along with the other dubious claims this entry makes. The Etch A Sketch is a marvel in hands other than mine. Wikipedia has a wonderful example of an Etch A Sketch drawing. By Etcha - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5395785 This was always the promise of Etch A Sketch that you too could produce an image like the above. However much I twiddled those dials nothing remotely like the above app...

  The Internet is full of rabbit holes and thanks to Dave's latest entry I have been vanishing down a few of them. Before taking you with me let's look at Dave's entry.  Even before it arrived there were queries on the Spectrum Computing Forum  as below "I can't see in the rules - will you be strictly enforcing the 'game' aspect, or are crap utilities and demos allowed? Ideas are starting to crystallise* and I want to check what's viable." Having decided that non-games would still be judged albeit in a different category I received an email with a tap file attached for a game called Porridge Roulette. The email didn't fill me with confidence from the opening line, "For some reason I compiled a massive list of foods (from https://world.openfoodfacts.org/entry-date/2016-08/ingredients ) and turned it into a roulette game where the chosen ingredient has to be served with porridge." to the closing line "Sorry :)" So what exactly...