GYPSY

"A bug has to eat." These words of wisdom set the premise for the unlikely elevation of the gypsy moth to video game protagonist. Indeed, Avalon Hill's Gypsy puts you in the bare feet of a smiling, happy-go-lucky gypsy moth caterpillar who has come upon a backyard with the rare and lucious Qok tree. Our hero could feast all day in idyllic bliss, munching on leaves and sipping nectar from blossoms. Alas, such a delicious tree is a resource contested. There are Flying Ants of Tasmania crawling over the bark, the Locknest Spider, and worst of all, the truly painful-in-the-posterior, Fandango Bee.

The Qok tree, your playing field, is spread abundantly in elevation across eight screens, and you steer the smiling, fat caterpillar around it via the branches and trunk. Leaves are everywhere, continuously regrowing, and easy to munch, but the real points lie in the blossoms, which come and go in mere seconds, making it a race to get the ravenous little mouth chomping in the right spot. The tiny ants will throw you from the branch, so they must be avoided. The Fandango Bee at first just randomly flits by, but after enough time watching the caterpillar munch on her beloved tree, this fury from lower Sumatra will pursue and sting. Each sting -- and ant and spider bite -- subtracts points, but by the third one, the little caterpillar turns a sickly shade of blue and moves slowly. The fourth sting leaves it a crumpled heap on the grass below, just another lesson of nature.