SUN Internet game stirs interest

Friday, Aug. 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A political game created by the Las Vegas SUN has generated international interest through the Internet.

The goal of "Wall Pat In" is to help Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan build a wall around the United States. The tongue-in-cheek commentary on Buchanan's stance on immigration was developed for Vegas Deluxe, the SUN's World Wide Web site.

"We thought it would be interesting to create a political cartoon that was also a game," said Bryan Allison, online editor. "The game makes a statement but is still entertaining."

The game was selected Thursday as a top pick by Yahoo!, a directory of Web sites. The publicity brought more than 10 times the normal number of visitors to the site, and more than 500 copies of the game were downloaded. The Reuters news service also wrote a story about the game.

"Wall Pat In" is free, works on Macintoshes or personal computers running Windows and can be downloaded at http://www.lasvegassun.com/wallpat/

It was created by Vegas Deluxe staff members Andy Hartzell, Marcel Levy and Geoff Carter.

Vegas Deluxe carries constantly updated news from the Las Vegas SUN, the Associated Press and the Christian Science Monitor. It also contains tourism and community information.