Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It - Infocom (deleted)
        (Text adventure for ST (reviewed), PC, Amiga)

Nord and Bert was an attempt by Infocom, back in 1987, to be a bit
"different" and they certainly succeeded, coming up with what
must be the strangest selection of puzzles - or as they called
them, short stories - ever seen on a disk.

Written by Jeff O'Neill, who also wrote Ballyhoo, the stories are
set in the imaginary town of Punster and each has a different
theme based on different types of wordplay. Apparently, life in
Punster is being severely disrupted by a strange plague which
means that actions which had previously been performed without any
problems at all now need to be carried out using old time-worn
phrases. The citizens, who have formed the Citizens' Action
Committee, have called upon you to sort the whole mess, whilst
warning you to "watch out not only for your Ps and Qs but your Ks
and Ms as well. And while you're at it, watch your Rs."

Seven of the eight stories can be played individually and have
been given titles such as "Shake A Tower", "Shopping Bizarre" and
"Play Jacks". You can leave any story without finishing it, go on
to another one, and return when inspiration strikes (or you give
up and peek at the built-in hints!). However, as you complete each
section, you'll be given a code phrase and when you have all seven
you can then enter the final story - "Meet the Mayor".

One section, "Shake A Tower" is based round spoonerisms. These
verbal mistakes were named after the Reverend W A Spooner back at
the turn of the century, who had the unfortunate habit of
transposing the initial sounds of spoken words. Thus "Shake A
Tower" would become "Take A Shower". Some of the examples in the
game are as obvious but others are decidedly devious. Don't expect
to just be able to swap two letters, you'll have to think quite
deeply about some of them.

"Shopping Bizarre", as the name suggests, takes place in a
supermarket where you will have to make sense of some of the
strange objects lying (or even walking!) about. "Play Jacks"
will transport you to Jackville, north of Punster, where the first
thing you'll see is a house - yes, it's the house that Jack built
- and you'll have to identify items with the word "jack" in them.

And so it goes on. I bought Nord and Bert when it first came out
and completed two sections fairly quickly, then put it to one
side. Now every so often I unearth it again and play another
section. It had very mixed reviews when it came out but I think
it's great fun and have had many a laugh (and groan) at the humour
in it. Hopefully it will soon be among Virgin's Infocom
re-releases at a bargain price.
                                           Sue