£1.99
Mastertronic

Surprisingly enough the objective of this fruit machine game is simply to make money. You start off with 10, 20 or 30 credits - your choice - then press a key to start the reels revolving. You can press hold to stop any of the five reels, with the hope of getting a winning combination. The fifth reel has numbers instead of symbols. According to the number sometimes a couple of the 'Supernudge' letters at the top of the 'machine' light up. Get them all and you go into the bonus feature section. Needless to say all the complexities of fruit machine gambling is here; losing gambles, holds on reels and holds on the SUPER NUDGE feature just when you only need one more letter lit to complete the set are all too common. At £1.99 this is a good way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon, but after a while I think that this will be relegated to the software cupboard.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Skint? Or just tight? Then follow Marcus Berkmann down to his lair and sample his goodies (oo-er). None over three quid (or to you madam, £2.99).

Mastertronic
£1.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

As long as there are computers, there will be fruit machine simulators. We've probably seen even more of the things in this office over the years than road race games, and that's saying something. Mastertronic has released a good half of them under its various labels, and here's yet another - bigger better and more like a real fruit machine than ever before. It's brill.

Of course you need a PhD in electronic engineering (or three years at NASA) to play most fruit machines these days, and Supernudge reflects the trend. It's got super hold, nudge, win spin, skill climb, pound bank, penny bank and (deep breath) cash stop - that is, all the wazzy features you'd see on the real thing. You start with 10, 20 or 30 credits and it's then up to you to maximise your winnings. Gambling your winnings is, I find, easier than on the real thing, but actually winning is perhaps a little harder. With all the extra bits and bobs, a game of luck is transformed into a game of skill, and not surprisingly the high score table take some getting on to.

Personally I'm a sucker for these games, but this is a particularly good one. Time, I'd say, for another autonudge. (Eh? Ed)

Label: Mastertronic
Author: P.A.L. Developments
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Super Nudge 2000 describes itself as a superb simulator modern fruit machine. Now forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole idea behind a fruit machine that you gamble and hopefully win lots of money. Now surely if you remove all financial transactions, doesn't that defeat the object of the whole thing? The practical upshot of all this is that computerised fruit machines are about as much worth as a computer simulation of a cashpoint machine.

That's my argument out of the way, now to the review. Super Nudge 2000 is everything a fruit machine addict could ever wish for. Lots of flashing lights and bells, and more features and gambling facilities than a bookies. First off, you get no less than five reels to play with. Should lady luck shine on you, they will fall in groups of the same logo that lie along the win line in the centre, and you will be blessed with a prize of money, the amount depending on the "worth" of the arrangement of tokens. You then choose whether to take the cash, or pile it all back in the hope of making even more dosh.

The mysterious fifth reel is where all the action comes in. When it stops, a number is lit. At the top of the screen are the letters S U P E R N U D G E. To activate all the lovely features you have to light all the letters. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the number shown on the fifth reel is the number of letters lit. If, after some letters have been lit, the 'held' light comes on, then those letters stay lit and you get to spin the reels again. Light all the lights and you get to play some of the game's many exciting features.

You can play the superhold, in which the reels move up and down and you can stop them on any position you want to collect massive winnings. Or you could try the win spin, where the computer will generate a win for you randomly, which means you could win anything between 10p and £5.00. There are all the usual features too, such as cash stop, where you stop a randomly flashing light to illuminate an amount of money, and, of course, there are regular nudges and hold facilities.

Graphically unexciting, the screen display comprises a lot of coloured windows. The most important of these is the one with all the reels in it. Everything looks convincing enough in a simplified sort of way. The reels scroll smoothly and all the lights light up. Nothing really exciting though.

And that's exactly how I'd describe Super Nudge in general. A bit of a pointless exercise in my opinion, and an eventually dull and frustrating one at that.

Mastertronic, Spectrum, Amstrad. £2.99

Of all the ridiculous things to do a simulation of, fruit machines are by far the dumbest. The WHOLE point of fruit machines is to win money: take the cash away, and they are almost entirely redundant.

However, experience has shown that there are people prepared to shell out hard cash for them. On the Amstrad, this one is very colourful but the reels are awfully slow. It also does not have as many features as the Spectrum. The Spectrum looks much worse but at least it has fast reels and lots going on all the time.

Basically this is computer entertainment for vegetables. Sit and watch the pretty reels spin round and jump for joy as they come to a halt on three lemons: or could it possibly just be one big lemon?

Spectrum £1.99, Amstrad £1.99
Mastertronic

"The best fruit machine simulator I've ever played" says well-known fruity-basher Julian Rignall. Dubious praise indeed.

What does Supernudge 2000 offer? Well, everything yer average one-armed bandit fiend could wish for - nudges, pound banks, super holds and all the other features you'd expect to find on a modern fruit machine. There's a highscore feature for biggest wins, and the game is addictive and enjoyable.