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In Bounder you have a little bouncing tennis ball to play with - but you're not going to be playing tennis. The whole idea of the game is to guide the ball through screen upon screen of obstacles while bouncing along the pathway of hexagonal paving stones that scrolls down the screen. It's a platform game with a difference!

There are 174 screens altogether, split into ten levels - your little bouncing tennis ball is really going to have his work cut out for him. The most general rule is to avoid anything that moves, and only bounce on the hexagonal parts of the screen. This isn't as easy as it might sound because all manner of nasties have been put in your way. There are piles of jagged rocks, stone walls which have to be circumnavigated, not to mention the odd light scattering of broken glass which punctures even the most resolute of tennis balls on contact.

Apart from the rocks and glass, a range of mobile nasties patrol the playing area intent on burs in our little bouncing chum. Binoculoids whizz round trying to knock the ball off course; Moscita birds swoop down on you; Stickits, Chomper Domes and Exocets do their best to live up to their names... you must negotiate your way around them all.

A stock of seven little tennis balls is provided at the start and a life is lost every time you stray off the yellow pathway or mix it with the nasties. There are a few allies in the environment, however, and the whole world isn't set against ol' Bouncy. Landing on a square with an arrow in it supercharges the next bounce and the ball can stay in the air for twice as long as usual. Teleports warp the ball to the next teleport square, thus avoiding any nasties lurking in between. Mysterious question mark squares conceal surprises: landing on one reveals the secret, which may be some extra bounces for the Bounceometer at the bottom of the screen, an extra life or two - or a nasty shock may be in store...

At the end of each level, your tennis ball is booted through a goal and it's on to the bonus screen. You're presented with a screen full of question marks, each of which holds a worthy number of bonus points. The Bounceometer in the status area reveals how many boings are available to you on the bonus screen, and economical jumping is called for if maximum points are to be collected from the questionmark bank! An extra bonus is awarded if the ball lands on all the bonus squares on the screen.

During play, the ball bounces of its own accord, getting larger and smaller as it moves in relation to the ground - if left to its own devices, it ploughs onwards suicidally - so it's up to you to try and guide it away from certain extinction. If the ball does stray off the straight and narrow (although there's no straight but plenty of narrow in this game,) it plummets into the abyss below and a new ball pops up on a different part of the screen, usually where you least expect it.

One little yellow tennis ball is definitely dreaming wistfully of Wimbledon this year... it's much safer on the tennis court, even if you do get to hear some rude words.

Producer: Gremlin Graphics
Price: £7.95
Author: Sean Hollingworth, Chris Kerry, Marcos Druroe, Peter Harrap



Those round doobries in the middle of the screen are teleport terminals. Land on one and you arrive on the other. A couple of patrolling Pterrors are in flight on the edges of the screen, too

CRITICISM
"At first glance Bounder didn't seem to be a promising game, but things soon changed! I've got to give it to Gremlin Graphics for originality - I have never seen a game like it before. Once you start off, bouncing all over the place, it becomes quite addictive, operating your ball and dodging low flying birds and other weird looking nasties. Okay, so there's only one colour per level, which some people might find a bit off-putting and dull, but the fast scrolling makes up for the lack of colour. Gameplay is quite fast so you don't get bored: there's no way this one can get monotonous. Bounder is a game I can recommend."

"Bounder is just brilliant. would