'A friend once told me that the only rule in lacrosse is that you are not allowed to kill your opponent.'

I’m not a sportswoman – I run to keep fit but I’ve never been one for team games. But maybe this month’s games on sport will change my mind. By Suzanne Elvidge

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Goal in One
And we begin with football. Get the ball in the goal on each level to move on to the next. Click the right mouse button in the direction you want the ball to go – the further away from the ball, the harder the kick will be.

Explore the level by moving the mouse to the side of the screen or using the arrow keys. I don’t like football and I’m hooked!

Champions League
And football again, but this time playing an actual match. I am completely flummoxed by this game! Select your team and squad, use the arrow keys to move, control to pass and shift to shoot. I wonder if there is a record for how easily beaten I’ve just been….

Tennis
Well, let me start by saying I’m about as good at this as I am at real tennis – do not be afraid, Venus Williams! Use the left and right arrows to move, and the space bar to serve and hit the ball.

With the tournament option you can select your player. It makes all the proper hitting the ball and crowd applause noises. Lemon barley water and strawberries, anyone?

England Academy
Take six skills tests (passing, line-outs, kicking, tackling, scrums and advanced kicking – once you have got through all these, you can select your team and play in the Six Nations Championship.

I hadn’t a clue what was going on (I seemed to spend most of the time being tackled and laying face down in the mud, which from what I’ve seen of amateur rugby appears to be a fairly accurate representation), but it looked impressive!

Lacrosse Shootout
A friend once told me that the only rule in lacrosse is that you are not allowed to kill your opponent. I have no idea how true that is, as she went to a rather posher school than I did, so this is my only exposure to the game.

Move your player to the target to catch the ball, drag the crosshair to the goal, click and hold the left mouse button, draw back the mouse, and fling the mouse towards the goal (the cursor, not the whole mouse, that could get expensive). Not quite as complicated as it sounds.

Hockey Showdown
I couldn’t find an ordinary hockey game, so here’s an ice hockey one. It’s fast like the real game – space bar to select the player nearest the puck, W to pass or steal the puck and Q to shoot.

It’s also very loud (again like the real game!) And as an extra, an air hockey game (start is hidden in yellow at the bottom right hand side, and use your mouse to hit the puck).

Bring it On
The most surreal cricket game I could find, and not entirely PC but rather fun. Select your allegiance (if you select ‘convicts’ you’ll play the game upside down), wait for the mole to line up the convict for you, then click your left mouse button for WG Grace (who sounds a bit like either General Melchett or Brian Blessed) to hit the iron ball and send the convict back to Australia.

Animal Athletics
A three part competition. First the javelin – help the warthog to throw the snake javelin by setting the angle using the cursor, hitting x and z to pick up speed and hitting space to throw.

Then the pole vault, a bit harder – drag the bar up and down to set the height, use z and x again for speed, and then drop the pole using the space bar and again to let go and jump.

And finally the hurdles – move your cursor round the hamster ball clockwise to get it to roll, and then use the space bar to jump over lions and zebra. If you get stuck, press the up arrow to get rescued.

Golf
Play golf without having to know about bogies and birdies, or wear tartan trousers. Click near the ball to unlock the pointer (white), and aim it and click it again to lock it (red). Click and hold the swingometer to set the power and go for it.

Sprinter
Hard work on the fingers this one. You have to win the 100 meters sprint to get to the next level, by hitting the left and right keys alternately, as hard as you can. It starts off easier, and gets harder and harder.

If you hit the same key twice your runner falls over. Use the arrow key to move between screens. Phew – I’m out of breath now!

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