Mark ”Chopper” Read, the notorious self-confessed Australian hit man whose criminal exploits have inspired books and a movie, has now lent his name to a board game.
Using bullet-shaped counters, players cavort through the criminal underworld, visiting brothels, attacking fellow gangsters, evading the police and finally making their way to the island state of Tasmania, where Read served several years in prison.
The game is the brainchild of four Australian friends who are fans of the cult figure.
Read told reporters the men approached him four years ago with the idea, and he told them to ”go away and do your homework”. They came back with a game in which players risk small electric shocks at the roll of a dice.
”It’s no longer illegal what I do these days, but it’s bloody criminal what I get away with,” Read told Channel Ten News at the game’s launch earlier this week. ”But I haven’t had a penny out of it so far.”
Released from prison in 1998, after serving nearly eight years for shooting a former friend, Read is one of Australia’s most notorious and marketable criminals. He has spent 23 of his 51 years in prison and has written several books telling of his long career of violence including one titled How to Shoot Friends and Influence People.
In 1991, Read wrote that he’d been involved, either directly or as a planner, in 19 killings inside or outside jail since 1970. He gained worldwide fame in 2000, through the critically acclaimed film Chopper, in which Australian-born actor Eric Bana played the title role. – Sapa-AP