Producer: Automata
Memory Required: 48K
Recommended Retail Price: £10.00
Language: basic as hell but fun
Author: The PiMan and others

The game you are about to play is our salute to Hollywood, that dream factory where everything was possible and where Groucho worked to make the world laugh,' says the blurb on the excellent cassette inlay. To make your dreams come true the certified lunatics at Automata have produced another mystery adventure game with a worthy prize for the winner. Judging by the difficulty in giving away the prize for uncovering the secret of Pimania, the secret in Groucho must be easier to find since you have to complete a slogan in not more than ten words that is dafter than 'We put some ting in computing!' This implies they expect more correct answers by the 1 June when the competition closes.

Somewhere in the depths of My name is Uncle Groucho you win a fat cigar, the name of a Hollywood star is hidden. Should you be lucky enough to guess it correctly and be dafter than anyone at Automata then your prize will be a trip for two to meet the Hollywood star in person, flying Concorde to JFK, and then on to Los Angeles staying at the famous Waldorf Astoria aboard the QE II, and £500 spending money.

TO WIN

This is all you do. Risk your sanity in Groucho and the PiMan's America, where the currency is fat cigars, travel is by space shuttle and covered wagon and conversation is by way of Groucho Marxist jokes made worse by interruptions from the PiMan. Needless to say, in the time allowed none of our reviewers got very far. Fortunately none of them was silly enough to fall for the opening question, Pimaniancs one and all ...

GENERAL

The program is slow to respond to input commands but Automata seem to have become a law unto themselves in this respect, and no doubt addicts will suffer very little from this drawback. As usual the program offers little in the way of help to get into the game and no hints on playing - Groucho, after all, was not noted for his kindness towards idiots.

COMMENTS

Keyboard play: slowish
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: very good
Sound: generally good, though a bit repetitious

I find it impossible to rate accurately a game which is designed to be a cult, and one which takes so long to probe that you can't see enough of it to be fair. As far as I got, which wasn't very far, it appeared to be as satisfyingly obscure as PiMania and pretty weird too.

The graphics are, if anything, better than in PiMania. The opening street scene with an animated Groucho lurching up and down is very good. The refusal of an input is also fun, as the program has obviously been stocked with typical responses. I wonder, though, how much you need to know about the Marx Brothers and their films to get anywhere.

I don't know who Groucho is, and I've never seen any of these films mentioned on the inlay card. I'm afraid I didn't enjoy PiMania either. I suppose Automata will say I'm just an alien-zapping arcade moron, but then I think they're a bunch of left over hippies. But my dad enjoyed the cigar that was stuck to the review cassette - thanks.

Producer: Automata, 48K
£10.00 (1)
Author: Piman

The full title of this ditty is, 'My Name Is Uncle Groucho You Win A Fat Cigar.'' but that's much to long to ever repeat again! Like their famous Pimania, the object is to wade through a drug-induced landscape of weirdness and insanity, which is supposed to represent America, in the company of Groucho Marx and his companion the Piman, discover the secret identity of a famous Hollywood star which is hidden in the game, and then win the fabulous prize of a trip to Hollywood to meet the star in question, flying out on Concorde and coming back on the QE2. A rags to riches story for someone. Entries before 1 June. Naturally, you've got to be solid bonkers to get it right, and a pimaniac to boot. Good fun despite the slow response times. Excellent graphics and sound. Overall CRASH rating 67%. BASIC.

Producer: Automata, 48K
£10.00 (1)
Author: Piman

The full title of this ditty is, 'My Name Is Uncle Groucho You Win A Fat Cigar.'' but that's much to long to ever repeat again! Like their famous Pimania, the object is to wade through a drug-induced landscape of weirdness and insanity, which is supposed to represent America, in the company of Groucho Marx and his companion the Piman, discover the secret identity of a famous Hollywood star which is hidden in the game, and then win the fabulous prize of a trip to Hollywood to meet the star in question, flying out on Concorde and coming back on the QE2. A rags to riches story for someone. Entries before 1 June. Naturally, you've got to be solid bonkers to get it right, and a pimaniac to boot. Good fun despite the slow response times. Excellent graphics and sound. Overall CRASH rating 67%. BASIC.

ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £10.00
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Automata, 28 Highland Rd, Portsmouth, Hants

The follow up to Pimania has been released. My name is Uncle Groucho you win a Fat Cigar maintains Automata's reputation as leaders of the Monty Python school of programming.

The idea behind Grouch() is that you travel across America using whatever transport is available looking for the famous Marx brother who is performing at various unlikely locations.

if you should find Groucho and you can guess his mystery identity (a good knowledge of arcane and canine film stars may help here) then he will give you a clue to the mystery personality and you could be on your way to America to meet a star.

Throughout, the game is punctuated with jokes, quizzes, exercises in lateral thinking, guest appearances by the Piman, and other lunacy.

As with Pimania it's all in Basic but for the most part it doesn't matter at all, the response times for some of your typed inputs are a bit long though.

An excellent game Pimaniacs and those yet to be converted will love. The free hit single on the reverse of the cassette is wonderful.

48K Spectrum
£10
Automata U.K.

Ours is a world where people do not know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it. Such was the lot of Pimaniacs, as the helpless purchasers of the last big piece of competition software from Automata became known.

The new mindbender from Portsmouth confirms T R Marshall's opinion that what this country needs is a good five-cent cigar. In fact, there was even one attached to the cassette box. This, and the "smash-hit disco track" on the flip-side, which is a curious fusion of Mark Knopfler vocals and Depeche Mode backing, with a Bonzo Dog Band play-out indicate the company's belief that Pimania and Groucho are not so much adventure games, more ways of life.

The prize you have to keep your eye on in this case is a trip for two to Hollywood to meet the star whose mystery personality is hidden within the program. The lucky duo will fly Concorde to New York then sub sonic to Hollywood. They come back on the QE2, subject to availability.

An excellent loading graphic shows the immortal Groucho Marx with twitching eyebrows and his famous cigar. On following the first clue the program correctly deduced that I had never played Pimania and then conversationally asked me to wait a minute. Loading completed, I was plunged in the scenario of Metroville, Burger Valley, Tinsel Town and Indian Creek. Having lost quite a lot of my money in the local casino, I went into a bar where I met a Swedish actress whose name I had to guess from a number of clues.

But of course, I really cannot give too much away, that is the catch when reviewing this sort of game with a prize. Suffice to say the game is humorous and the graphics are excellent.

Fat cigars are Groucho's currency in Automata's sequel to Pimania. You can gamble them, buy clues with them, and get robbed of them! That fast talking member of the Marx brothers has been transferred to the Spectrum.

Groucho is big. He takes five minutes to load - but why worry when you can sit and watch his cigar and eyebrows twitching? After he has loaded he treats you to an obligatory three minutes of graphics.

The format of Groucho is different from that of Pimania, and comes across as a series of zany puzzles and joky insults, interspersed with tunes and set against a background of clever and colourful animated pictures.

Groucho invites you to guess the identity of a Hollywood star. If you can do so by June 1st, you stand a chance of winning yourself a trip for two by Concorde and QE2, to meet the star.

To do this you must collect clues to the star's identity. These are gained by guessing the names of other stars, from clues purchased at an ever increasing price of fat cigars.

Cigars can be come by in the Casino and other places, if you're lucky! On the other hand, the Piman might come along and 'bum' a few off you.

Groucho sometimes annoys me. He uses some witty phrases like 'Of all the words in the game, you had to choose them!' And them. And them. Wears a bit thin after a while.

I guessed one of the stars to be CHARLES CHAPLIN. Not so. 'THAT'S NOT A NAME - IT'S AN INSULT! I WAS THINKING OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN' didn't go down very well!

And I can't travel. My attempts are at best ignored, at worst, for some reason, clear the program from memory - lie some other commands - and that means another eight minute wait. Together with the slow response time, playing is a laborious business.

Having said that, Groucho is entertaining and addictive enough to be played again and again. And like Pimania, be comes complete with a pop song - 'Groucho' - on the flip side, this time performed by Lady Clair Sinclive and the Pimen. Will the Piman soon be seen live on Top of the Pops? Will Clive Sinclair get to number one? Wait and see!

Groucho
From Automata for 48k Spectrum at £10