Profitania Deluxe LavaMind/1998/$44.99 Profitania is an underground kingdom inhabited by exotic creatures known for their ingenuity. Recently, the Profitanians made an exciting discovery. They learned how to harness the the giant magma pools near the planet's core and use this energy to power their emerging industry. As a budding entrepreneur in Profitania Deluxe, you have constructed a new factory and hope to take advantage of this economic boom. You must compete against five other players in a race to bcome the leading underground industrialist. The first company to dominate the market by reaching a cash value of 1 million gems wins the game. Armed with some seed money, you try to buy the best quality raw materials for the best price. The more more successful you are in this endeavor, the higher the quality your manufactured products will be, and the greater your profit. But be careful! If you do not keep your employees happy, and cultivate good relations with the locals, costs will soar, and productivity will plummet. Clearly, a lot of love went into the development of this game. It is witty, charming, and challenging. It is also wholesome, and even a bit educational. It offers a lot of what parents say they want in a game, and, being a parent, I applaud this effort. LavaMind wanted to design an alternative to violent computer games. They succeeded. The result is a game that is in not violent or offensive in any way apparent way. Unfortunately, however, I'm sorry to say that it never grabbed me (not, at least, in the way that Myth, Diablo, Warcraft, Civilization, or even Risk do). After the initial interest wore off, i.e., after the first evening, my thoughts kept returning to my campaing against Soulblighter, even as I valiantly tried to give this lovingly-rendered game its fair chance to hook me. For me, the escapist value was low; when I feel I need a mathematical challenge, I'll go back to working on my income tax. That could just be me, however, inveterate, middle-aged hacker-and-slasher that I am. But give Profitania Deluxe a try. It's goal of non-violent entertainment is a laudable one that is worth supporting. --M. Harold Varhola Profitania Deluxe is available on CD-ROM directly from LavaMind for $44.99. System requirements are Windows 3.1, 95, 98, or NT; 8 MB RAM; 486 or Pentium; 5 MB of hard disk space. Check out the Websites for Profitania Deluxe and LavaMind's other games, Zapitalism and Gazillionaire!