Atlanta - February 12, 2007

Bases Loaded

Playing the Field Card Game

He smokes. Striiike one!
Hates kids. Striiike two!
And lives. With. Mom. Striiike three!

And you’re outta there.

Next time, consider a warm-up round (or two) of the new ice-breaking card game Playing the Field.

Atlanta inventor Amanda Brown got her start sprucing up friends’ Match.com profiles for fun. When resulting sparks (and e-mails) flew, she converted their juiciest getting-to-know-you info into four sets of 52 cheeky (and conveniently probing) question cards.

Decks are sorted MLB style by intensity, ranging from first base (What do you do to pay the bills?) to home run (What do you consider cheating?).

With Brown’s body language clue cards tipping you off to everything from chin stroking (being on the fence about a subject) to nose pinching (feeding you a line of hooey), you could round all four bases without ever breaking a sweat.

Because while hookups remain the oldest pick-up game in the book, you’d prefer yours not be entirely hit or miss.

Available online at playingthefieldcardgame.com.