30983-79A COMMUNIST version of Pacman has come to Swindon. The Museum of Computing, at the University of Bath in Swindon campus, in Marlowe Avenue, has one of only three surviving examples of a Cold War-era East German video game.

Poly Play was created in 1985, perhaps in a bid to prove to the decadent West that Marxism-Leninism could produce video games as well.

But while arcades in the West echoed to the beep and shriek of ninja-style beat-'em-ups and early versions of the likes of Super Mario Brothers, the young Communists had to make do with rather more primitive fare.

They could control, for example, a character who stood in a pit in the pouring rain and had to bail the water from the pit with a bucket or drown.

Alternatively, they could also be a man in dungarees catching butterflies in a net, a man shooting reindeer with a gun, or play one of four other options, including a version of Pacman involving a rabbit and wolf.

It was all done in silence, as the machine lacked sound capability.

Now visitors to the museum are enjoying sampling this remarkable piece of history.

Museum spokeswoman Rhona Jack said: "This is another coup for the museum, which is attracting visitors and acclaim from all over the world.

"Our eventual aim is to display the complete history of computing, from the abacus to the latest machines."

The museum is currently displaying home computers and video games from their invention to the present day.

Every Saturday, it holds hands-on sessions from 9am to 1pm where people can try the machines out for themselves.

Museum curator Simon Webb is delighted to have secured the East German game on long-term loan from a British collector, who bought it some time ago as part of a German job lot.

Mr Webb said: "There were no arcades in East Germany, so these machines appeared in places such as youth centres. They were operated by tokens rather than money. We have three of the tokens, although we do not know how much they would have cost.

"The machine uses a Russian chip based on a Western one, an East German television screen and a wooden cabinet made by a furniture manufacturer.

"A total of 1,500 were made, but they were recalled and destroyed I do not know why when the Berlin Wall fell.

"Only three survive. One is in a German museum, another is in a private collection over there and we have the third."

'It was the size of a chest of drawers!'

THE Evening Advertiser recruited two young people to test the Poly Play.

Jack Keith, 15, of Capethorne Drive in Haydon Wick, and Zoe Collier, 14, of Buckthorne Drive in Woodhall Park, have both played modern video games. Jack said: "The Poly Play was quite a shock. As old as it is, the games still made me smile, but the real shock was how much technology has changed in the last 20 years.

"The graphics were poor and there was no sound. The machine was the size of a chest of drawers!"

Zoe added: "It was quite a different experience, because I'm used to games with up-to-date technology. Even though the instructions were in German, you still picked up how to play it because it was that simple, but it was surprisingly entertaining."

Barrie Hudson