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Optima have been trying to spread rumours that Mary Whitehouse is investigating this game. I can't imagine why. Squalid it may be, 'dirty' it isn't.

The display shows a large, apparently empty bed. Beside it are arranged a telephone, a sponge, a jam sandwich and a set of dentures. Suddenly things come to life a bit, with fleas appearing and hopping around on the blankets, and the occupant's foot shuffling around at the bottom end.

The mess and clutter of your possessions then becomes an 'armoury' for fighting the pests. The jam sandwich is used for swatting fleas, but leaves blobs of jam on the bed. These can be wiped up with the sponge. The dentures will dispose of bed bugs, which turn up later, and the telephone is for calling for help.

Having selected your instrument you then move it around squashing the pests. Swatting the fleas isn't too difficult, but you must be careful not to fall out of bed and must avoid the jam patches. You must avoid swatting your own feet. Any one of these misdemeanours costs you one of your three lives. If the fleas get in eight bites, the game finishes. The bed bugs appear later on, and one bite from these ends the game.

If you get into trouble, you can use the 'phone. You'll get either a wrong number, all your bites cured, or all pests on the bed destroyed. You can do this as often as you like.

The trouble with Bed Bugs is that, although it's highly original it doesn't have the compulsive, habit-forming quality that makes a good game.