THE CON GAME, by Greg Porter. From Blacksburg Tactical, 1925 Airy Circle, Richmond VA 23233. $?

It's tongue-in-cheek time, but a rather tasty tongue sandwich for those with a sense of humor and some knowledge of what we fatuously call our industry. This 3-year old item is a multi-player game on, of all things, the game business. While it is simply fun to read the quite funny, sly, and fairly incisive, rules - Porter states, and quite rightly, that the industry "… could be more easily simulated by tossing a coin ("if it lands on edge, your company stays in business") …" - the game is actually a pretty good, if generic, overview of how our little corner of the world works.

This is, of course, Third World stuff, so the components, while sturdy and serviceable, are not exactly Milton Bradley. There's a rules folder, some thin markers to cut out, a bunch of company production boards, and some rather witty event cards, such as those for Bad Reviews ("Some loathsome rag printed a bad review about your game! What's worse is that they're right …"), Dyslexic Typesetter, Errata from Hell, etc. And then there are the games you can do: "Terrible Slow Sword", "Space 1189", "Fungi from Candyland", "MutantDeath BloodGore", plus such magazines as "White Dork" (I thought that that was the real name?? hmmm . . .) and , "Alarms and Perversions". You can produce the games as High Quality, Average Quality, or Cheesy, so we know Porter is right on target, and it all comes to a head at the yearly convention - thus the game's name.

As a game, this is pretty standard multi-player (5 is best) economic stuff, elevated beyond the norm by its humor and insight. Even so, it's more than just a readable item; players actually have to scramble to stay alive and surviving ain't easy. That alone lets you know the high accuracy level of this simulation. It's a lot more fun then actually attending one of those cons … that's for sure.