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A program that has you guiding a little balloon through a prickly maze makes a welcome change.

This one-time extremely popular pub arcade game seems to have met the fate reserved for most of them and gone to meet its maker.

However, it has now reappeared for the Commodore 64, and remains fairly faithful to the original.

You must guide a balloon, using the joystick, through a prickly maze. Bumping into the side of the maze causes you to lose one of your seven lives, and it's back to the beginning for another go.

There are many levels of play in this unusual game, and completing one merely takes you onto another, harder level.

The first screen follows a pretty display of little bobbing balloons and shows a fairly ordinary maze, not too difficult to manoeuvre around.

At the top of the screen is the spot you're aiming for, with a numerical counter in it, and all the time you spend avoiding collision with the walls decreases the value of the counter.

When you finally make it, that value is added to your score.

About the only hazard on the first screen is one small prickly ball that wafts slowly across your path as you near home. But patience and a steady hand should see you through.

The second screen is a lot more difficult. This time, not only is the distance between the walls significantly less but you must also contend with an extremely large object that floats about the screen, generally getting in the way.

There is also a glowing square on the screen, which serves no purpose other than tempting you to satisfy your curiosity about what happens if you hit it. Don't bother: you'll only lose a life.

Subsequent screens feature ever more hazards, including a magnet that attracts your balloon. This is set extremely close to the walls, and is a constant source of worry.

Some pathways require you to go through at an angle, and some, on later levels, appear to be virtually impassable.

It certainly makes a change from Pac Invaders. The graphics are nicely done, and though there isn't too much in the way of sound, the original pub game wasn't too musical either. A very enjoyably unusual game.