Master Miner

It's the 22nd century, and mankind's greed finds new outlets throughout the Solar system; you, a gem prospector, have set off for the asteroid belt to harvest precious stones. However, an ideological dispute is getting in the way: the Commie Claim Jumpers - a contrary bunch of space pirates - seem to be contesting your mining rights, and voicing their protest by shooting at you and stealing your gems.

This stands a good chance of ruining your day, but you're packing some firepower yourself - your ship's frontal gun, with its limited (but recharging) ammo. Your job is to roam the asteroid field, pick up gems and deposit them at your base for safekeeping. The Marxist marauders come in a variety of vehicles: the Gem Protector and the Seek & Destroy, which fire at you; the faster Kamikaze, which tries to ram you; and the Gem Thief, which lives up to its name by snatching your valued bounty and retreating to its own base. If it's destroyed in mid-thieving, it drops its cargo for you to recover.

Five skill levels are available. For more mayhem there's the simultaneous two-player mode, where two miners battle each other as well as the pirates.