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productive and honorable in their otherwise useless life. My most missed hit was Spiggy [Nixon’ s disgraced vice president, Spiro] Agnew; | was distressed at missing him.” Each Gamester pays $10 to Pontius, official coordinataor and editor, to keep score and report the hits. There are players in over 30 states (23 in New York), plus one each in Quito, Kuwait, England and Australia. You can become a Gamester only by being recommended by another Gamester. They’ re mostly baby boomers, attracted by a whimsical, informative style of reporting. Forty-nine Gamesters “hit” Buddy Ebsen. Obituaries mentioned that after ten days of filming 7he Wizard of Oz, Ebsen fell ill because of the aluminum make-up on his skin, and was replaced as the Tin Man by Jack Haley. (A suspicious player wondered, “Did Jack Haley add something to the aluminum make-up at the Wizard set?” ) Conversely, there have been “solo’ s” on the unexpected demise of Princess Diana and JFK, Jr. “A solo | am proud of,” one Gamester told me, “is the hit on Christian Nelson, who invented the Klondike Bar.” “Yes, it’ s sick,” another player admitted, “but c’ mon, /t’ s just a game! The Game is a light-hearted way of spitting in death’ s eye--your opportunity to pick a Generation-X rock star who OD’ s on heroin, a HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015277