Producer: Fernleaf Educational Software
Retail Price: £11.50
Age Range: 8-12 years

This game is designed to be used by groups of three or four children, and aims to offer an experience in the use of logical thinking and reasoning to resolve a problem.

Some bottles of perfume have been lost in long grass. A dog is on hand to help, and knows when it is close to a bottle, but not its exact position. The players have to move the dog around a grid using north, south, east or west commands. A set number of moves is allowed in which to find the bottles and return the dog to his kennel.

As well as the grid, the screen displays the number of bottles still to be collected, the number of bottles next to the dog's present position, and the number of moves left. Certain squares on the grid cannot be moved into, nor can a bottle be hidden in these squares. The value of the game lies in the group discussion that takes place as the players try to deduce the correct moves Strategy also enters into the game as the children decide how to cover as many squares as possible within the moves allowed.

There are six levels of difficulty to choose from, and it is possible to store the results of up to 12 games. The Perfume Hunter is a useful little program which children will enjoy.

COMMENTS

Control keys: N, S, E, W
Keyboard play: good
Graphics: adequate
Use of colour: attractive