Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 11/02) - From his perch at Forty Below Golf's hardwood bar, Jeremy Morrison got to figuring.

Morrison, who has carved a small niche for himself designing games, regularly takes his coffee at the well-known Range Lake area watering hole.

Forty Below, a bar with a well-deserved reputation for charity work already has lots of traditional bar games like pool and darts.

The bar and Morrison seemed like an ideal candidate for a marriage of sorts.

Hence, Morrison and Forty Below are teaming up for a night of fun and fundraising.

"We're going to do a 'game-a-thon'," next weekend, said Morrison, referring to himself and Forty Below Golf.

Morrison hopes the game-a-thon raises a few bucks for a worthwhile charity.

A mixture of traditional pub games like darts, pool, and house specialty indoor golf will be played alongside the games Morrison has been perfecting over the last year.

Morrison has prototypes of his games in the Side Door youth centre. In addition to fundraising, the game-a-thon provides Morrison with another test lab.

"I'm waiting until I'm absolutely sure of my (game) designs," he said, before producing more.

Forty Below has three prototypes set up close to the bar's pool table. Two of the games are magnetized variations of horseshoes and ring toss, while the third, Interference, involves tossing a magnetized disc at a metal cabinet mounted on the wall. The disc has holes poked through it which players try to line up with spots painted on the surface of the cabinet.

"Pretty much everyone gives them a shot," said Morrison.

Bartender Rob Foote concurs, adding that even he isn't immune to the game's seductive charms.

"They're addictive," said Foote.

"Even if I'm playing pool, I'll come over here and play for a few seconds," he added.