Hover Bovver - Gameplay

Gameplay

The player controlled their lawnmower with the joystick, and was required to "mow" (i.e., visit) every square of grass on the screen. The mower moved extremely slowly when first moved but accelerated rapidly if the joystick was held in a single direction, encouraging the player to optimise a route to include as many long, straight lines as possible.

The player was pursued by "the neighbour", an enemy who always moved directly towards the player. If caught by the neighbour, the player lost a life, although this was represented as the neighbour taking the lawnmower away (it being, in fact, the neighbour's property) and the player having to "borrow" a mower from someone else. The player's "lives" remaining were indicated by the name of the neighbour from who the current mower had been borrowed: Jim, Tom and finally Alf.

As well as grass, the boards included blocking spaces through which the mower could not be moved, and flowers. Mowing flowers resulted in a second enemy, "the gardener", appearing who pursued the player in the same way as the neighbour. Moving the mower too fast resulted in the "mower heat" gauge rising; if it reached maximum, the mower was frozen for a while, usually resulting in the player being caught by the neighbour or gardener.

The player's only weapon was their dog; by hitting the fire button, the player could set the dog on the neighbour or gardener. This would cause them to run away, or freeze in place. The amount of time for which this could be done was limited (displayed as a Dog Loyalty meter). The dog also remained active, roaming randomly, on the board even when not being used to attack; a Dog Tolerance meter dropped continuously, representing a time limit. Once this reached zero, the dog would begin to attack the mower, causing an immediate overheat if he managed to bite it. If Dog Loyalty remained, the dog could be distracted from attacking the mower by commanding it to attack the neighbour or gardener instead. Also, if the mower collided with the dog, the Dog Tolerance meter immediately dropped to zero.