geriatric blue-hair who finally kicks the bucket, a fascist totalitarian in the Mid-East who is assassinated. I’ m not doing great this year because | invested too heavily in Hamas, but I’ m still in the top ten. The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is doing its job--I just guessed wrong. Last year | scored on Khattab, a Chechnian rebel leader who was killed by a letter he opened that was poisoned. Our first poison-pen-letter death.” But isn’ t it somewhat ghoulish? “Ghoulish?” a participant replied. “No more so than fantasy baseball. We can get up in the morning, and either pick up the newspaper or turn on the Internet to see if we scored, every day. It’ s like baseball stats, you want to move up in the standings of the veterans. The reason we Gamesters play, | would say it’ s about sty/e Style involves who you pick. Some concentrate on music, some on politics, some on sports.” As for social significance, one player explained that “The pastime has been going on for more than four hundred years, so | don’ t think it’ s reflective of any given time or society. Every Gamester comes with their own perspective. The Game is irreverent, even a bit shocking, and some take pleasure in that. It’ s a poke to the ribs that lie beneath stuffed shirts, a tweak of bluenoses. The Game is a competition—challenging, engaging and energizing. The Game heightens awareness and helps us to HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015278