Snookered
I am an only child, so growing up my playmates consisted of busy parents, Radio One and that little black plastic box called the ZX Spectrum, as the years passed I found a new chum. It was called Crash Magazine, it reviewed ZX Spectrum games and also came with a cassette on the front cover....containing ZX Spectrum games. It was like going round a friend's house and discovering more exciting games.
One month, it excelled itself, it brought both Radio One and computer games together in one package. This game is called Snookered , although when I found it , it was called Break Point and on the Crash Magazine cover tape from Top Ten software. But to me , it will always be the computer version of the radio quiz game 'Give Us A Break' from Dave Lee Travis' Radio One show.
The idea is simple, pick a red ball question, get it right then work your way through the colours with harder questions to get the best break. Be good, brainy, expert or genius. There is an added time limit to answer in as well. The best thing is, it is multiple choice, no having to correctly spell the answers!
It fitted the bill perfectly with my parents idea of 'educational software' , some of the questions were challenging ( in fact still are challenging ) and there was no way of telling just what category question would turn up for those yellow, blue or black harder point questions. This game still felt like fun , I think it was the radio quiz connection. My father in particular was an avid listener to the radio show in question and I think quite liked this game. Plus he loved snooker.
It was a game I always loaded when we had friends round, it was short enough not to hog the entire evening ( leaving room for Atic Atac and Sabre Wulf) but also interactive enough to ( in 1990) be a novelty. Plus with those bright Spectrum colours it looked lovely.
Now with so many more advanced quiz games available it may look a little basic, but it still holds a place in my heart. Partly for memories of staying up late with my Dad watching snooker, partly for listening to Radio One on a Sunday morning to hear 'Give Us A Break' and partly due to memories of summer BBQ's with friends, sneaking inside to play on the computer when no one noticed.