1st September 1984
Yes, your worst thoughts have been realised - a game based on the wheelings and dealings of everyday oil folk in Downtown Dallas. You are head of your own oil company and the aim of the game is to accumulate $200m and so buy out the dreading Euings - not the subtle change in spelling.
On the screen is a map of Texas and you have to buy up various plots - 'concessions' - so that you can drill for oil. Seismic surveys tell you whether there's any oil in your concession, and if there is you then have to build rigs, production plants and pipelines to get the precious stuff out of the ground.
You start out with $100m in cash but a few fruitless surveys and unproductive wells can soon have you in debt, at which point you fall prey to a takeover from the Euins. Actually, they seemed to buy me out no matter what action I took; obnviously I'm not the material of which oil barons are made.
One major drawback of the program is that new concessions are offered for sale at pretty infrequent intervals. If you don't have any wells producing, there's nothing to do but wait for a concession to flash up on the map.
Another gripe: the inlay card's loading instructions say 'Type CRUN "DALLAS" to load program'. Not on my Beeb you don't.
There are good serious business games available for the Beeb, and there are exciting 'fun' simulations. Unfortunately Dallas is neither - though it does play a rather good version of the Dallas signature tune!
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