Coded by P.A. Morgan for Micro Power and published by US Gold in 1985, Tapper on the BBC Micro is a playable, reasonably well-presented and jolly conversion of the classic arcade game.

You play as a bartender, serving customers with enough drinks to push them out of the doors at the end of each row. You must catch any empty glasses, slid back down the bar to you, and if you pick up a tip then the Can-Can dancers will come out to entertain/distract the crowd.

One thing you have to learn quickly, though, is that you should avoid serving drinks to customers who are already drinking. Otherwise, the drink will just slide past them, break the glass, and lose you a life.

An intermission minigame sees you having to pick out a can that hasn’t been shaken up, from six that have been mixed-up by a cheeky-looking bandit. Fail, and the can will spray in your face.

BBC Tapper has three difficulty levels – Beginner, Advanced and Expert. The higher the level, the more customers you have to deal with, and the faster the pace of the game.

What is weird is that you can actually play during the game’s demo mode, although you don’t get to record your score on the high score table as you normally would. I’m not quite sure why the converting programmer did that, but it’s something I noticed and it’s very unusual.

Tapper on the Beeb is bright, challenging and fun, with wild west piano tunes playing in the background, and screens that are varied in layout and colour. It’s not the best home version of Tapper available, but it’s still worth a play in this day and age.

More: Tapper on Wikipedia