Domark
£14.95

Barely minutes after Domark launched the original Genus edition of Trivial Pursuit onto an unsuspecting computer market, here comes the first official cash-in, er - sorry, follow-up. The Young Players Edition, available both as a complete game package (£14.95) and as a subsidiary set of questions (£7 95), is aimed, as you might imagine, at the more youthful Speccy owner. More than 3000 questions designed for 7-16 year olds are included, and don't worry if, like the Ed, you're rather older than this 'cos that includes mental age too!

In terms of gameplay, this new set is identical to the first. The board still glows with that colourful and rather confusing design that's made to make your eyes water. The honesty factor's still there too - instead of typing in your answer, you merely have to say whether you got it right, which of course, you did! And that animated bore, TP, still trots around the screen getting on everyone's nerves.

Only the questions and their categories have changed. In this version they're very similar to those in the original board game - mainly about the Wombles, that is. What is it about the Wombles that fascinates the Trivial Pursuit writers? No doubt historians will be debating this for years to come.

Also mysterious are the new categories. Quite why they've been changed, I can't say. But gone are Sport and Leisure, Science and Nature and everybody's fave, Entertainment. Instead there are the more sober People and Places, the Natural World and Games and Hobbies. Very sensible shoes, very Blue Peter!

Young Players is sure to bring pleasure to any aspiring young yuppy. Though there is one problem - how are we meant to afford this flood of trivia? And there's more to come. Baby Boomer (for the over-30's, many of whom own Speccies) and Genus II are due next year. Domark is obviously keeping busy, but you can't really blame them. Buying the first set of questions will set you back a cool £14.95. Extra sets are a mere £7.95 each. So bona fide TP freaks, of whom there are apparently billions, will have to shell out a whacking £38.80 to keep their collection of tip-of-the-tongue teasers up to scratch. Which is why the game's inventors now all live in the Bahamas. Well, if they don't, they ought to!

Label: Domark
Author: ODE
Price: £14.95 (£7.95 questions only)
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: John Gilbert

You don't need to be a genius - or Genus - to play Trivial Pursuit - Young Players' Edition.

Like its big brother - launched a couple of months back - it contains 3,000 questions on two tapes but this time it's for people who've heard of Spandau Ballet or Duran Duran. Do you know whether a lake on Mars would boil or freeze, or which organ of your body is bean-shaped?

If you've played the Genus Edition you'll find no differences between the two master games. Both include the same score panels and board design. TP, the lovable (?) question master with the big nose is still as cheeky (irritating?) as ever and you've still got to be honest as to whether you've answered the questions correctly.

All that's changed is the question set. All the posers (not the players, you fool) are new - more in keeping with the youthful theme. There are, for instance, questions on Sports and Hobbies, Good Times (sic), and the natural world. If you already own the Genus Edition those questions can be purchased on one of Domark's new Uniload cassettes. The same cassette will load into most of the popular computers so, if you've got a Commodore or Amstrad machine as well as a Spectrum - with one of the master games - you can play it on all your machines.

Baby Boomer is, apparently, on its way with more questions next month. I just can't wait.