we're not racists... really

My second favorite multiplayer game of all time is "Bomberman".  (M.U.L.E. is my top pick.) If you haven't played it, the goal of the game is to kill your opponents by strategically placing bombs in a maze. Exploding bombs can set off other bombs, kill or injure players, and destroy obstacles. The last player standing is the winner.

There are four bombermen to choose from: white, blue, red, and black. If there are not enough human players in the game, the computer will take control of one of the characters.

One very hot summer day, when our daughter was probably 6 or 7 years old, we opened all the windows in the house and fired up "Bomberman" for a few multiplayer games. As there were only three of us playing, the computer controlled the black bomberman... And he was winning many of our games.

Frustrated, we formed a new strategy: get rid of the computer player first. We had a blast with this little game-within-a-game until I suddenly realized, an hour or so later, that our windows were wide open, there were neighbors out in their yards and walking by, and our precious baby girl had been repeatedly screaming at the top of her lungs, "KILL THE BLACK GUY!  KILL THE BLACK GUY!"