Games People Play

By DAVID ELLIS

A tour of the world's latest offerings, from appalling to zany:

RUSHIN' RUSSIAN. Test your vocabulary by filling in the correct Russian words in each story. For every set of this U.S. pencil-and-paper game sold this spring, the manufacturer will put one ruble into Boris Yeltsin's campaign chest.

CATECHIC. The winner is the first player to circle the cathedral and reach the Virgin Mary; cheaters must head for the confessional. This French board game has the Vatican's blessing.

BACTERIA PANIC. The medical version of Old Maid deals out "sickness cards" illustrated with grisly images of ringworm, gonorrhea and -- for the big loser -- AIDS. But widespread outrage is forcing the Japanese manufacturer to pull the game off the shelves.

LITE 'N UP. Just in time for the bikini season comes a "diet survival" board game that pits players against the spinning "wheel of willpower." Beware! You may wallow indefinitely in Restaurant Row.

NAZI VIDEOS. A big hit with young German and Austrian skinheads, these underground video games polish such management skills as how to run a death camp more efficiently.

NATIONAL ENQUIRER. Players can blow Murdoch and Maxwell off the newsstand by creating their own tacky tabloids. And they don't have to worry about pesky lawsuits from Liz or Roseanne.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart