Ducks Ahoy

Ducks Ahoy is a relatively simple game, with younger children as its intended audience. You control an unmanned red boat in a city with rivers instead of streets, much like Venice. There are various buildings on the screen, and, at random, ducks will appear within them and begin walking around. The game-play involves trying to catch the ducks in your boat and then bringing them to safety. Your boat can only hold two ducks at once, so it's important to plan out how long it will take you to get back to the drop-off point before a duck simply jumps into the water from his building and is lost.

In addition to the perils of losing a duck into the water, there is also the issue of a rogue hippo who will occasionally emerge from the water. If your boat is there when he emerges, your boat will capsize and you will lose a life. When you have lost all of your lives, of course, the game is over. Bubbles will appear in the spot where the hippo is about to appear, so you do have some warning.
The graphics are simple, as one would expect from a game from this period, but all characters are easily identifiable. The buildings across the map are all decorated differently and have a European feel to them, further increasing the likelihood that the city in question is meant to be Venice. The game starts out simple, but the difficulty increases in later levels when the ducks begin walking faster and the warning time for the hippo decreases. Most of the game is spent following the ducks around, watching them through the windows of whatever building they're currently in, and waiting for them to emerge. This can get frustrating when one abruptly changes course and heads in a direction it's difficult to follow them in, but it's all a part of keeping the game challenging and interesting.
Overall, this is a game which I have fond memories of from my youth, evidenced by the fact that I can still remember details about it without having played it for twenty years. Easy to recommend for any child from the ages of 4-8. Also fun as a time-waster which isn't likely to eat away hours from your day.