Melbourne underworld hitman/standover man turned spoken-word artist/painter/celebrity/brand Mark "Chopper" Read's latest venture is a board game based on his criminal career:

Using bullets for pieces, the game starts at the dole office, and players visit brothels, standover notorious criminals, get busted by police, go to court, go to jail, before finally making their way to Tasmania.

For their sins players also have to go through a shocking form of Russian roulette. At the roll of the dice, put their fingers in a silver vice - and one of them gets a small electric shock.

Chopper, his marketing people and the game developers (a Queensland outfit who call themselves the Blowtorch Group) haven't neglected the brand tie-in potential either, recommending that players may care to consume Chopper Heavy Beer (which, from what I recall, is quite decent) and Chopper Nuts whilst playing.

"It's no longer illegal what I do these days but it's bloody criminal what I get away with," Read said. "But I haven't had a penny out of it so far."

It's interesting to note that board games are considered so safe these days that the chorus of condemnation has been all but absent. Certainly there have been no wowser politicians promising to see about getting it banned, as happens in Australia whenever a controversial video game or non-mainstream movie comes out.

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