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Pinball Wizard is a video version of pinball for the unexpanded Vic-20. It is distributed by Terminal Software of Manchester at £7.95.

The program takes two minutes to load completely, during which time a title page flashes on to the screen, and finally the game display itself appears. Very nice it is too, with multi-coloured and flicker-free graphics.

The game can only be played from the keyboard by using the "Commodore" or "cursor-right" keys to flip and the Spacebar to nudge. It really is a poor piece of program design in this day and age, when any program of this kind should run on joysticks to prevent wear and tear on the keyboard.

The flippers are reasonable, in that you *can* catch and hold balls on them in the way that Terminal's publicity suggests - but it is a bit tricky. All three flippers operate together and cannot be activated separately. The sound is poor, though the graphics impressive.

The documentation supplied with the program, apart from the loading instructions, is adequate.

It would appear that the possibility of a more advanced pinball program - in say, 8K - has been sacrificed on the alter of "it must fit into the unexpanded Vic at all costs", and an unsatisfactory compromise is the result.

In conclusion, therefore, the program is overpriced at £7.95, as it is too limited to hold attention for long. Pinball Wizard for the Vic-20 is distributed by Terminal Software of Manchester.