THIS BUD GAME'S FOR YOU!

VANCOUVER -- Forget Monopoly, forget Scrabble -- the hot new Christmas gift
in Canada this year is a board game that lets the player run their own
"B.C. Bud" marijuana grow operation. It's called The Grow-Op Game.

Creators bill it as an educational board game that highlights the perils
involved in the pot business and cautions would-be growers about the high
stakes.

"You get ratted on by neighbours, Hydro cuts you off, you get floods, there
are tons of stuff that is negative about it," said Vancouver-based creator
Ivan Solomon on Saturday.

"People would think that with grow ops, everyone would like to have one in
their basement, that it's easy money. It's far from being easy."

Solomon said the Monopoly-style game is the brainchild of a young,
twentysomething reformed pot grow operator, known only as "the Rabbit" to
conceal his identity.

Rabbit and Solomon only brought the idea to fruition about four weeks ago
but the game has caused a huge stir among consumers eager to play the pot game.

Players roll the dice, move around the board, renting properties, buying
lights and equipment, plants and finally harvesting crops.

Moving in an opposite direction on the cylinder-shaped board is the
"GrowBuster." He lands on the unsuspecting player's property, rips out the
grow operation and sends the player directly to jail.

"Out of six players, one might get lucky," said Soloman.

Sounds almost like real-life odds.