#7 Deathgame

[tomswift2002]

#7 Deathgame
Published September 1987 (Greycastle Edition, September 1988)

Plot: Biff Hooper heads off to a Survival Camp in Georgia for 3 days and disappears, with only Joe knowing that he was at the camp!

Review:  This is probably one of the better Casefiles, and I can definitely say one book that would not get written today, especially where you have the boys running around with guns, and Frank being shot in the heart!

[MacGyver]

I always liked the survival aspect of this book- and way cool title. Also, it's nice to have Buff Hooper featured in this one. He's a character that didn't seem to show up nearly as often in the Casefiles as he may have in the Original series. (Not that he was necessarily in a ton of those either, but I daresay he had more appearances there anyway.) 

[VLoneWolf]

I liked this book.  I don't see what would be wrong with writing a book today with boys using  guns in a survival paintball soft air type game.

[tomswift2002]

With the paint balling, it wasn't even revealed until page 8, which was in Chapter 2!  So for all of Chapter 1, you're thinking Frank and Joe are running around with real guns, shooting people!  Plus later on Joe walks onto an outdoor shooting range, where he nearly gets killed!

And then later on, the Biff Hooper duplicate throws a grenade at the boys, which Joe bunts (they were in a sporting goods store) back at the guy who runs into the shelving containing ammunition, which goes up when the grenade explodes and causes the buildings roof to fall and kills the guy!

I would hate to see how Deathgame would be written now.  It wouldn't even have 'death' in the title!

[CalvinKnox]

Also at the end Joe shoots Hammerlock.  Everybody (including Hammerlock and maybe the reader) think that Joe is about to commit murder! but find out that Joe only has a paintball gun.  In Canada at least, it now seems like a kid can get in trouble for pretending that their hand is a gun when playing cowboys in the school yard.   This, Evil Inc., and Hostages of Hate are my favorite Casefiles.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I liked this book as well. Why would it be different today if it was written? Kids do love playing paintball.

[CalvinKnox]

I think I wouldn't be written today mostly because of the concern over gun violence. In Deathgame, whenever paintball guns were used, the author mislead the reader to assume that the guns were real at first.  I haven't read any of the Hardy Boys Adventure books yet, but I understand that the level of violence has been lessened quite a bit compared to some of the Casefiles.

[tomswift2002]

"Lessened quite a bit" is an under statement!  The boys can't even get into fistfights!  At most they can tackle someone.

[CalvinKnox]

So no more;

Biff came out to join Joe, his M-16 aimed and ready. (Deathgame pg. 150)

and

Joe picked up the pistol, aimed it at Hammerlock, and snapped off a shot.
"Joe!" shouted Frank. (Deathgame pg. 151)

I believe Biff appeared in #3 Cult of Crime, #7 Deathgame, #30 Deadliest Dare, and #37 Danger Zone.  In Deadliest Dare, Biff's mother mentions the events of Deathgame.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I think I wouldn't be written today mostly because of the concern over gun violence. In Deathgame, whenever paintball guns were used, the author mislead the reader to assume that the guns were real at first.  I haven't read any of the Hardy Boys Adventure books yet, but I understand that the level of violence has been lessened quite a bit compared to some of the Casefiles.

They have shot guns and used them in the Casefiles and SuperMysteries. I do miss those and wish they'd reprint them as ebooks.

[tomswift2002]

They have shot guns and used them in the Casefiles and SuperMysteries. I do miss those and wish they'd reprint them as ebooks.

They also used guns in the G&D books as well.  The boys even get guns for Christmas in the original Cabin Island and go on a fox hunt on Boxing Day!

[CalvinKnox]

In the original Shore Road Mystery and The Missing Chums, the Hardy boys take their own guns with them for protection when they go after the bad guys.  If I remember right, they have a gunfight in The Shore Road Mystery.  In the Casefiles, they only seem to pick up guns during the fight, and don't enter quite as prepared.  Hostages of Hate is at least one exception where they confront the hijackers while they are armed with machine guns.  I think I remember in Flight into Danger that Frank or Joe say that they "don't work with guns" when someone wants to take a shotgun with them when going after the Assassins.

[tomswift2002]

In "Deathgame" Frank and Joe seem to own their own paint guns.  Plus, I think it was in "Dead On Target", it's mentioned that Fenton has Frank and Joe go to the gun range to practice.