It's a lovely day for a little bit of prop flying. You're at the stick of a small, single-engine plane, and you must complete an increasingly difficult succession of courses where you must pass different colored pylons on the left or right. But there are obstacles that don't make this easy - several balloonists also agree that it's a good day to take to the air, and then there are the trees... (Activision, 1983)

I can't tell you how many hours I spent with this game as a kid. It drove me nuts! I could whip around like a flying ace on the easy courses, but never failed to wipe out on the more advanced ones. But it's a terribly fun and addictive little number, and another classic example of the more innocent age of video games - nothing in Sky Jinks could be even remotely construed as violent. Even when your plane hit something, you somewhat unrealistically settled down for a smooth landing so you could take off again. If only it really happened that way, dreamed the FAA...

Sky Jinks is included in Activision's Playstation emulation of their classic 2600 games.

Rating:  Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and addictive game.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster