Something I'm surprised hasn't appeared on the scene much sooner is the board game which uses a micro for various functions. The kind of thing I had in mind was rolling the dice, keeping score, being banker if money's involved, that sort of thing. Super League is one such game, and as far as I know the only board game around which involves using the C64.

For your twenty quid you get the following: 1 x Cassette tape containing the game software, about two million quids worth of funny money in notes of various denominations, eight arthritic looking plastic footballers, some player cards, chance cards and match day cards, a pair of dice and, of course, the all-important board.

All this comes neatly parcelled in a shiny black box with pictures of Bryan Robson all over it. Bryan appears in the main photo with a young woman and two kiddies, the idea being here's Bryan enjoying a game of Super League with the wife and kids during the half-time interval. In reality I suspect the only thing Bryan has in common with the other participants is that this is the only occasion in his life he's ever likely to be within three feet of a Super League board.

Of course we all know the real reason Robbo's here is not because he thinks Super League is the best thing since screw-in-studs, he's getting paid for it. And what's wrong with that? I've suspected for some time now that Ian Botham doesn't eat Shredded Wheat.

As for the game itself. Well, between two and eight people can play, though I suspect that with any fewer than four it would be terminally boring. Each player is manager of a team, represented on the board by one of those arthritic-looking footballers.

You can call your team what you like, (plenty of scope for arguments here!) and the team names are entered into the C64 before the game starts. Another thing that happens before the game starts is that each player/manager gets fifty grand and three player cards.

The first thing everybody has to do is get to the ground where their fixture is due to be played. You can do this by road or rail. Rail is more expensive, but faster (exactly how fast depends on the dice) and there are advantages in getting to the ground quickly. If your opponent doesn't turn up by your next go you can buy another player (just like Spurs - M.P.) the advantages of this will become apparent. There are a couple of things which can happen on the way to a ground. Namely, landing on a yellow or blue square.

Yellow squares get you a chance card, or more precisely chance message as the computer provides it. Like in Monopoly, chance cards can be good or bad news. Generally speaking they either gain or lose you time or money. Hence, your coach driver may find a short cut and you can throw again. Alternatively, your star player may criticise you in the press and you will be forced to sell him to the bank at half value.

Landing on a blue square can only be good news, as you get a match day card. Match day cards say things like 'a huge clearance from your goalkeeper has eluded your opponent's goalkeeper. Add one goal to your score'. Pretty realistic, eh? You don't actually get to use match day cards until the game itself.

When all the managers have made it to the respective grounds, it's match day. Each team must play the opposing side according to the programme drawn up by the C64. A game is actually played by each manager throwing the dice. Remember the player cards? Each player has a points value which is added to the dice score. There are a few restrictions on players. If you have two with the same number (i.e. position) they can't both play. Also the computer gives the prevailing weather conditions and some of your players may not be able to play in certain conditions. Pathetic if you ask me, it wouldn't have happened in Jack Charlton's day.

Finally you get to play a match day card if you have one, but your opponent of course has the same opportunity. Then it's a question of converting the points into goals by means of the table on the board.

I must admit that I found this a bit confusing. For instance: 12 points get you 2 goals and 16 points get you 3, but what if you get 14 points? You can't have half a goal, can you? The instructions offer no guidance here at all, so I suggest you either make up your own table, or round the total down if you're in the middle.

When you've worked out the score, it's fed into the waiting C64 as are all the other teams' results. The computer then produces a league table, works out the following week's fixtures and off you go again. When everybody's played everybody else twice, the league champions are declared. I haven't included everything but the essential elements are all there. Having actually played it, my conclusions are that Super League is an average board game to which nothing has been added by the use of the computer. Which, when you think about it, is a shame. Marrying computer and board is a good idea. The computer can take care of the tedious calculative processes like banking and keeping score. This has the added advantage of cutting out the possibility of cheating. The board adds an element of social focus that's somehow lacking in computer games which are more an individual pursuit.

I think Super League fails on both counts. The C64's potential has been vastly under-utilised and the game itself just doesn't come up to scratch.