Competition

Congratulations to Paul Brunyee who won last issue's competition
by finding the 12 Infocom titles hidden in the word puzzle. The
titles were Ballyhoo, Zork, Deadline, Enchanter, Infidel, Trinity,
Planetfall, Seastalker, Sorcerer, Starcross, Witness and
BattleTech.

As I'd forgotten to give a closing date for the competition
(oops!), I waited a bit longer than the usual month after the disk
release date. However, everyone must have remembered the normal
rule as I didn't get any extra entries in that time. Anyway, thanks
to everyone who entered, sorry you couldn't all win, but I hope
Paul enjoys his three free issues of Spellbreaker! Thanks again to
Mike Brailsford for donating them.

The prizes for this issue's comp have been donated too, by Neil
Shipman - cheers, Neil! - and they are brand new copies of
Level 9's Silicon Dreams trilogy AND Batman (the arcade game).

Just try to find as many adventure titles as you can from the ones
hidden in the following short story. It has over 30 titles in it
and all of them have been listed in the SynTax Adventure Lists,
either in this or previous issues so may include one which is a PC
adventure but can be played using a PC emulator ..... The letters
of the titles are in order (ie the titles haven't been jumbled in
any way).

Don't be put off entering if you can't find all of them, just mark
on a printout or list as many as you can find. Closing date for
entries is 15th October 1990 and in the event of a tie, the winner
will be drawn from the famous hat.

A special message to Neil .... if you enter and win, I promise you
won't win your software back!! In that event, I'll sort out
something else for you.

Good luck, everyone.....


Garrett, once a king but now deposed, dodged north and south
through the woods, hiding from the sun, dogged by his enemies at
every turn. Pausing briefly to fish from an icy stream (it was,
after all, mid-winter), he continued to hack his way through the
undergrowth. His eyes looked towards the hills - far to the west
lay his ultimate goal, The Adventurers' Inn, where he hoped to
rejoin his companions.

Finally, in the midst of a storm, dog-tired, lightning crashing
around him and soaked to the skin, he arrived at the inn. With a
crash, Garrett threw open the door.

"A drink, wench, and make it fast!"

"La! Never say please!" scolded the barmaid, as, her locket
swinging, she filled a mug to the brim.  Stone floors underfoot
covered with rushes, a mouldy stag's head on the wall and stark
lights suspended from the ceiling, only served to emphasise the
poor state of the building.  But there was something odd ....
Staring around the room, Garrett noticed a burly man sitting in
one corner, eating a piece of meat, possibly pork, which oozed
juices onto his plate. It was as though he'd seen a ghost or a
figure from myth or legend.

"Jim? It's you?" asked Garrett, and touching his face, down which
ran a long, black scar, Mountain Jim, the famous scout, replied,
"Aye, it's me."

"Thank god! After that last fight in the pass, I thought you had
died, and seeing you there, I thought I was losing my mind...."

"Fighters besieged us, aye," replied Jim, "but we made good our
escape. But the worst bit was that narrow pass, as, since we had
to move quietly, it took a lot of time ..... and resulted in
death, starting with the prince.  I sent in elite forces to try to
protect him," continued Jim, trying to comfort his master, "but it
was too late, as I suspected. But, never fear, the infidel scum
shall pay for his death....."