There are quite a few different types of memory games for the Amiga, but by far the most popular is the kind based on the card game "Doubles" which most people will have played at some stage in their lives!

For those who haven't had the pleasure of playing it, in "Doubles" a pack of cards is arranged in a grid with the cards face down. Two or more players take it in turn to turn over two cards at a time in a bid to get a matching pair of numbers. If the two cards turned over do not have the same number on them then the cards are turned back over. The aim of the game is to get as many pairs of matching cards as possible.

ThinkAMania is a slight variation of this theme, using bright, colorful, well-drawn icons instead of numbers and offering the option of playing against a computer if no-one else is around.

Although more fun in two player mode, playing against the computer can also be very satisfying and enjoyable when you are doing well :)

Upon starting the program, you are asked for the preferred screen mode every time - many children will need an adult to start the program up for them each time until they learn which buttons to press.

The title screen is filled with several options; no. of players, sound on/off, palette, highscores, default, new and quit. I feel that although most of these options are necessary, the layout should have been arranged a little better so that the game is easy to start - it's not obvious at first how to do so.

The graphics are very good and it can be seen from the screenshots that much work has been put into the presentation of the program.

The in-game interface is very easy to use and quite responsive although not enough time is given to look at the icons when they are turned over - a delay setting would have been a very handy feature.

Also, you would have thought that in a game like this there would be several levels of difficulty with each successive level having more icons than the previous level. Sadly this is not so and the user is dumped in the deep end with a set number of icons.

Conclusion

ThinkAMania is very simple and well presented with some minor bugs in it which could have been avoided if a little more thought had been taken when designing the software.

The game is very enjoyable while it lasts, but sadly, due to the lack of a difficulty setting will either be too hard or too easy for the child using it.

I'm sure though that we'll see even better variations of this type of game in the future - If ever written, ThinkAMania 2 would definately be one of the best of them!!

		Downloads - Choose your local site
		ThinkAMania is approximately 80K. Main Aminet Site, USA London, UK Brisbane, Austrailia Uppsala, Sweden Paderborn, Germany Naples, Itally Vienna, Austria

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