Games theories
James Hughes-Onslow Some children may be saddened to learn that Hamleys, the Regent Street toy shop, was
taken over this month by the Debenhaill
chain store empire. But it is more likely that the little budding speculators will be rubbing their hands and ruminating on the filler points of the deal. At least that is the imPre,ssion you get if you examine the games ne' partment in Hamleys. Flutter, a stock market game for anYune over ten years old, was sold out on Wedries" day of last week, the very day that Deber hams moved in. There has been a heavy ale. mand for this one. It has been narrowly 011.t1-1 sold by Operation, an electric fun and SiclIC game for six-year-olds that 'keeps the Who, c family in stitches'. The child has to rellf or transplant various organs with a Pair ° electronic tweezers. If he fumbles, the Pa: tient's nose lights up. Like most games thes"
days, it has financial overtones, the object being to 'complete a nerve-tingling Nelltion and collect the highest fees'.
So, to return to money, you have a ch°ic,e. of Ratrace, Speculate, Monopoly (everyone:5 got Monopoly, but it still sells to precoei° young Americans who are tired of the 'sled York board) or Swindle 'the great garne dubious antique dealing for three to si" swindlers of nine years and upwards'. The Worst things to happen to a swindler are 'visit Pawnbroker' or `go to mugs' market' and the best is 'meet rich tourist'. Ratrace is a Madcap game of social climbing—' Run Your own business ... join the yacht club throw a wild party to impress your new friends ... make a fortune at the races ... go from working class to High Society. . . and ,be Wiped out paying taxes'. The player moves up in status from working class to Middle class to High Society, sniggering at the oPPonents he has left below'. His objective is to accumulate enough cash to retire On. Good move: Society Wedding, move to middle class. Bad move: divorce, pay alimony, return to lower class. Unexpected Perk : grandmother's funeral, collect E200. Soeculate is described as a really true-to-life stock market game which finds players 'in an exciting and challenging situation as they struggle to hold their portfolios together to avoid the slide into bankruptcy !' Another stock market game is called simPly Stockbroker. 'You'll have to be a lot like a real stockbroker, a little cunning,a little ruthless and very shrewd'. I found one mother trying pers to buy Stockbroker, but her son uaded her to get him the Business Game with 'the This is a strategy game concerned "n 'the struggle to expand business and achieve maximum exports'. Fortune Hunter :s rather similar, a game of global enterprise, h ;' Which the winner is the first person to ac-lininlare £1,000,000,000. t,n "ith all this pressure, it is not surprising .,,at the 01 here is symptoms also show themselves. a game called Headache—give your 1)°flents a headache by capturing their ten; Frustration—frustrate your opponent ; 11sPense, Tension, and Keep Smiling. ."1.Y favourite is Ulcers, sixty to ninety rlif of of fun for two, three, or four players g nine Years and upwards. 'Ulcers is the fun n'rne that e a vice gives you power over people. You -president or promote a salesman. eur president demands more money. rnunleone steals your secretary and your sales to4nager quits. You raid another company g: I Your empty offices. But, boy, have you int,13;knolems!' The aim here is to survive pa -‘,4".e new fiscal year with your full corns'afr, a dubious objective at the best of Nes according to Professor Parkinson. met Content with familiarising children rnak rhe world of greed and intrigue, the ers of children's games are still working pirthe old themes, the criminal underworld, calia,c,,Y'lhe KGB and CIA. There is a game eah;" t-leneral Election complete with slur say-sp. a„,igns and empty promises. The blurb he General Election is like a game. sout;',.:n You have to be a crafty schemer, a Planner and an accurate mudslinger'. jourtle juvenile bandits have their eyes on Thenalisnl too, with Scoop and Newsdesk. fills tWts inner of Newsdesk is the person who papeue front page first. 'Edit your own news% and use a combination of global stratnew" luck to be first with the front page one. A disarmingly honest profession, this
Previous page
