GROW GAME REAL GIFT 'HIGH'

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.

"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."

EAGER TO PLAY

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

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.

The Rabbit wanted to show would-be criminals grasping at fast cash is
not all its cracked up to be.

And who better to share the dire pitfalls of the "weed biz" than the
Rabbit who spent some time in jail for the crime, where, incidentally,
he also came up with the idea.

Employees at The Amsterdam Cafe in the heart of Vancouver's Gastown
were thrilled to receive the game because of endless requests for the
gift that gives players the thrill-seekers' "high" without getting
busted. An employee said the phone has been ringing off the hook for
the game.