Written by Pete Cooke [Tau Ceti, Academy, Micronaut One, Earthlight, Stunt Car Racer], A Whole New Ball Game is the 1989 sequel to the puzzle game, Brainstorm, and was only made available on the covertape of Crash magazine issue 66 (July 1989). It was basically given away, as a full game, with the magazine.

The aim of A Whole New Ball Game is to capture all the yellow energy pills by hitting them with a bouncing ball before the countdown timer expires. You can change the ball’s path by placing or erasing gates on the play area, which deflect the ball’s course by 90 degrees.

Also found in the playfield are objects called ‘effectors’, and these will affect the movement of the ball in a number of ways. Some effectors will speed the ball up; some will change its path, block it, or disturb it in other, unpredictable ways. Some effectors are best avoided (if possible); others can be helpful (if you know what you’re doing), and one can even ruin your game – ie. the ‘slime’ effector, that grows similar to the amoeba in Boulder Dash – which prevents you from placing gates onto it.

A Whole New Ball Game includes a screen designer so you can make your own levels, and if that wasn’t enough Mr. Cooke has also included a bonus “Fractal Tree-Generating Program” to mess around with. Both of which are very cool.

Overall, A Whole New Ball Game is a decent puzzle game and a rare original title given away on a magazine covertape. It’s simple, beautifully presented and interesting to play. And is another Spectrum feather in the cap for Pete Cooke.

More: A Whole New Ball Game on World of Spectrum