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Ordinarily such problems, though not actually "bugs," wouldn't bug me, but in a text adventure game you expect to make mistakes in typing, not to mention entering words randomly in the hopes of finding one that works. Here, though, entering an unusual command may result in the completed complete destruction of your patience.

Predictably, the storyline of thisadventure resembles the tale of Jackand the Beanstalk. As the centralcharacter, Jack, you are told by yourmother to sell the family cow. Afterfinding your way to a village, youhave the option of selling it to abutcher or trading it for the fabledmagic beans. Naturally, you take the beans. Hurrying back home, you plant the beans. The beans grow into a giant beanstalk and you climb it just as Jack did. Reaching the giant's castle you explore it and start collecting items while avoiding the oversized ogre. The number of permutations is large, and I won't spoil the story by detailing them. The actual gaming is a lot of fun. Although I had not completed the adventure by the time I discovered the anomaly, I was until then intrigued by it. The storyline is entertaining and logical and filled with twists, much like a good mystery. Because the program is written in Extended BASIC, data entry is a bit on the slow side. Even so, this never became a problem for me. The computer was always ahead of my ability to decide what to do next. ===Ease of Use=== The game loads automatically and data entry is quite straightforward, using single letters to represent ·directions of movement and two-word commands for other input. It also has a save game feature. A solution is included with the adventure for those who are completely frustrated by the game. ===Documentation=== Instructions for the game are on the diskette. A brief, printed message also accompanies the disk, asking the user not to distribute duplicates, and soliciting comments and suggestions for modifying the game. It notes, too. that all purchasers will be told about revisions that are made. ===Value=== This is essentially everything I expect a text-based adventure to be. There is only one problem with it, which I amply detailed at the beginning. But it is a problem that I find impossible to overlook. '''— JK'''