BOARD GAME WITH A BUZZ

Can You Find The Pot Of Gold?

A group of Toronto bankers found out the hard way that running a
marijuana grow operation isn't easy money. That's if a new board game
is as realistic as it advertises.

The Grow-Op Game, which rolled into Toronto this week, is supposed to
be a realistic exercise that allows people to experience all the risks
and rewards involved in the grow operation business.

Five Toronto bankers gave the game a test run yesterday and they all
agreed after playing that the pot business is no way to make a living.
They all got busted by the cops, ending up in jail.

"There seems to be a lot of risk in the (grow-op business). It's
scary," said Kathryn Kruitz, a TD Bank project administrator. "You're
safer playing by the rules and investing in the stock market or RRSPs."

That's despite the fact Kruitz and her teammate, Kevin, were the only
ones to sell a crop and cash out. The pair made $60,000 on one crop.

They were able to buy some clones while renting a pad on Vancouver's
east side for $2,000 a month. They were using a low-risk strategy to
try to stay under the cops' radar.

"In The Slammer"

"They busted us on our property when we were selling," Kruitz said.
"We only got one crop out there and then we're in the slammer."

Kevin, who didn't want his last name used, said the game drove home a
major life lesson.

"Like I was always told growing up, if it's too good to be true, it
probably is," Kevin said. "I don't think (a grow operation) is an
effective investment. I'd rather play the stock market."

The game was launched in Vancouver and was such a hit during the
Christmas season the company sold out its stock.

It's the brainchild of a man known as "The Rabbit," who started a grow
op at an early age to try to make fast money.

According to the game's marketers, The Rabbit thought it up while in
jail. He saw Grow-Op as a way to show would-be pot growers "all the
excitement, danger, rewards and failures of growing B.C. Bud."

In the real world, Rabbit experienced everything from flooding, fires
and fungus to bugs, ceiling collapses and "that inevitable knock on
the door from the authorities."