Producer: Rothmans/Cassell
Retail Price: £8.95
Author: Peter Dunk

As you can imagine, Rothmans Football Quick Quiz is a football quiz program. It boasts 1,000 questions on all aspects of football - FA Cup, League Cup, personalities, trivia - in fact it tests just about every avenue of foot- ball knowledge.

Up to four people or teams can be quizzed together, and at the start a list of eighteen foot-balling subjects is displayed. Once a choice has been made, the appropriate section of the program loads and then information on the number of players and their names needs to be input.

The computer acts as quizmaster and can present questions in three ways: Assigned; Three in A Row and The Race. Alternatively, the Full Quiz option is a mixture of the three styles of quiz. 'Assigned' is the most basic of the three options. The computer asks each player in turn a question and gives four different answers numbered 1 to 4. Using the appropriate number key, the player chooses an answer - a correct response is rewarded with a little fanfare and ten points are added to the player's score. If the computer is given a wrong answer, it points out the mistake and reveals the correct response to that question. Players are given a twenty second time limit to answer their questions - take too long and the computer assumes you don't know and gives the answer. After a certain number of questions the player who has scored the most points is proclaimed the winner. If there is a tie then, a tie-breaker question is asked.

In 'Three in A Row' the game-play is the same, except a bonus of twenty points is given if a player answers three questions in a row correctly. 'The Race' has everybody scrabbling for the keyboard. When the Race option is chosen the computer asks everyone to define a 'claim' key for themselves before the game starts. The computer puts questions onto screen with a twenty second time limit. The first player to press his 'claim' key is given four seconds to answer the question. The correct answer wins ten points, but a wrong answer results in ten points being removed from the claimant's score!

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1-4 to choose answer, Z, Q, P to claim question
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: unresponsive
Use of colour: not inspiring
Graphics: just a dire loading screen
Sound: minimal
Skill levels: one
Screens: four different quiz options

As my football knowledge is limited to Hereford United, this program doesn't appeal to me at all. Sound and graphics are not "over-used", although there are a few tunes here and there (possibly to wake you up). The loading screen is really something else - I haven't seen anything as bad as this for ages. The unfortunate footballer depicted looks like he's been in a fatal accident and they've sewn his limbs back in the wrong places. In fact, when I first saw it I thought it was an anaemic lollipop standing on a giant beach ball! On the whole, I can't see four intelligent people playing this game for longer than ten minutes without falling asleep. But then, if you're a football fan, you might just see it a little differently….

Despite being a total non-footballer, I found this game quite interesting - but will it have a wide appeal range? Unfortunately, the quiz didn't hold my attention for too long. Tome, the twenty odd different subjects didn't seem particularly different! The game itself is extremely simply presented and is basic down to a point of dullness - there are no graphics and the sound consists of a few doleful poopoopbeedoops. The program is terribly overpriced - you could buy the Football Yearbook instead, and still have change. If the price was knocked down, it would be a touch more appealing but as it stands it may only to appeal to a few ardent soccer fans, and 'may only' are the operative words.

I quite look forward to seeing football-related computer games. Now I've changed my mind. Rothmans Football Quiz is a very simple, non-frilly question-and-answer game. Each set of questions has to be loaded from tape - even if the part you want is in memory! The contest is very simple and would probably be ideal for a very young person. The program is obviously written in BASIC and consists of some very stupid errors routines - like if you press the BREAK key you have to wait a few seconds for it to tell you that you pressed BREAK, then you have to load the whole section again. Rothmans Football Quiz is a very un-userfriendly program without any good features and not even a redesigned character set.

Cassell
£8.95

How can it fail? With a picture of Reidy on the box, this game's bound for glory! But can even this compensate for all our resistance to quiz computer games? On the other hand, until the Beeb does a deal this might be the nearest you'll get to soccer on a TV screen.

The loading screen doesn't help the image of dumb footballers by having them totally faceless. is it just coincidence they're all in quasi Arsenal strip? But of course the pleasure of games like this isn't in the power of the pixels or the groovy graphics. This really is a game for football freaks... and there are still some of us out here you know. Mind you, there's enough quiz thrill in-built to keep the non-Association afficionados interested.

There are four quiz options. Assigned questions, three in a row, the race and the full quiz combining all elements. There's also a bonus system - so much barmy key bashing can go on. But be sure you've the correct answers. Ten points deducted for an own goal if you get it wrong!

The print is clear and the response swift, explanations full - and they'll often include clues to the more arcane questions. Answers are multiple choice so intelligent guessing can count for a lot. The only minor quibble is the program is so long you can waste a lot of time on the re-wind button desperately seeking soccer questions on one of the eighteen available subjects. These are pleasantly varied - from League (Scottish and English) through to European and World and even Non-League. The emphasis is on contemporary soccer, not a lot of stuff pre-'80. What it won't tell you is who are the eleven players whose surnames ending in 'y' played for England between '67 and '81...

Publisher: Cassell
Price: £8.95
Memory: 48K

Football is supposed to be a social game - so is smoking - but there is nothing very sociable about creating a database of soccer facts, and selling it as a quiz.

Rothmans Football Quick Quiz can be played by up to four teams or individuals. Topics include the FA Cup, The Scottish League Cup and Non-League Football.

There are three question formats within each quiz. Three-in-a-row gives each player a batch of three questions to answer. If one is answered wrongly, a bonus is thrown open to the other players. The race is a free for all buzzer round which uses the reply keys.

The quiz becomes tedious if you play it for more than half an hour at a time and even the most ardent soccer bibliophile is likely to give the package a free kick before long.

The package would probably not be a commercial success if it did not have the Rothmans name tagged to it. Spin-offs are justified in some instances, but is it laudable to link a cigarette manufacturer's name to a product which many 11 year olds may pick up?

Cassell Ltd
£8.95

Here is a 'just for fun' quiz, no tie in with famous personalities or TV shows, no offers of fabulous prizes, in fact the worst that it could be accused of is the plug for Rothmans.

For fans of the art of spherical dexterity this is a challenging test the knowledge, 18 sets of questions totaling 1000 questions in all, and covering every aspect from general, to trivia and non league football.

The quiz is well presented, giving three variations in play format, Assigned, Three in a Row and the Race. A full quiz can be played which involves a combination of all three.

Not a lot to add, except that it is a good example of how the quiz can be implemented on a computer and it is a must for football fanatics.