The first thing you notice about Coin Pusher Casino are that the graphics are amazingly realistic. Then you notice the music which is very cool. Unfortunately, then you start to think that this is a very boring game where you just have to push coins off a ledge. That is partially true but there is a steady progression of working up bigger and bigger scores. The bonus items you can earn on each level include casino chips, gold and silver bars, collectable items, rolls of paper money and treasure chests. There are also numerous power-up tokens. Collecting these items becomes compulsive. Even when you've run out of coins, you keep hoping to nudge the table and get something to drop.

The basic premise of the game is to exceed the buy-in cost for each level. That enables you to progress to the next level. Of the game modes, Zen is most relaxing because it has no time limit. The more challenging mode is Classic, where you have a strict time limit. Finally there is Arcade mode which is incredibly frustrating at first but eventually you figure out how to overcome it using various perks and power-ups so that you can keep achieving jackpots within the time limit and so get a bigger payout.

The first arcade mode is a wheel of fortune with a built in dice game. The second arcade mode is a fruit machine / one armed bandit. Other than sheer luck, success in the arcade modes involves collecting 500 coins and then trading them in for a buy-in continuation. In and of itself, that becomes very addictive. I can attest to it being so after playing for nearly 50 hours. To begin with I thought this was going to be a game that got about 1 hour of my life in total (just a bit of nostalgia for old-fashioned amusement arcade games). How wrong can you be ?

It's a tough choice to recommend Brass Birmingham. The presentation of the game is very good, the artwork is very nice and the theme really works. There is a solid strategy game here, but one that lasts only a few minutes each game. The game is 16 to 20 rounds and no more.

I have found it difficult to understand how the scoring system works and to be honest, I am still struggling to beat the AI on easy mode after playing for five hours. The rules are actually quite simple but connecting up a canal network and making it high-scoring is confusing. The tutorial doesn't go into enough detail. I have even sought out the board-game instructions online to try and make sense of it.

This is like a casual strategy game in every regard apart from the difficulty level. I am sure after multiple goes it becomes easy to beat the AI but not straight away. Essentially, you need a deep understanding of the points system to know whether your choices are good or not. For a casual game, you might not have the patience to persevere. One more grievance is the lack of local multi-player.

If it sounds like I haven't enjoyed playing Brass Birmingham, that's not the case. It is one of those challenging games that keeps you coming back for one more go. At least unlike many other strategy games, making bad decisions is only a short term problem because the game is over almost as it has started. I am tempted to buy the board game and I can imagine it takes far longer to play and involves some hilarious disputes over the rules and totting-up the scores.