When Andrew Mitchell, 23, started playing Magic: The Gathering, a strategic, mathematically-based trading card game, he had to do it discreetly because his teachers didn't approve and his parents were convinced it was satanic.
Now it is played by more than 180 000 people around the world with Pro Tours and Championships attracting players from 500 countries, with a top prize of $3 million-about R34 million.
Local distributors of the game pay for plane tickets to send players to the international tournaments to promote the game.
"It's a brilliant way to travel and meet people," Mitchell said.
He's been to New York, Brussels, Tokyo and Barcelona and has snapped up more than $4 000 in winnings.
"I don't intend playing cards as a profession but plenty of people do make a living. I have a friend in Germany who has won over $1 million."
The game was created in 1993 by maths professor Richard Garfile, who was given a brief to design a portable card game that could be played in under an hour for the Seattle company Wizards of the Coast, which also owns the enormously successful Pokemon and the Harry Potter card game.
Mitchell, who graduated from the University of Cape Town and has worked as a computer programmer and business analyst, is rated as the number one player in South Africa and 30th worldwide.
Mitchell, who played chess for Western Province, says Magic: The Gathering is about maths and strategy: "What sets it apart from chess is that there is a bit of poker in it. There is a lot more bluffing and a random element - you don't know what cards your opponent has in his hands."
The game is sold in 60-card starter decks and 15-card booster packs and is played by two or more players.
An average game takes about 20 minutes, although Mitchell says it can last anything from two minutes to two hours.
The cards are illustrated by top fantasy and science fiction artists and while some of the images are quite dark, Mitchell says there is nothing sinister about them.
"They don't mean anything bad - they could just as well be grizzly bears."
The game is set in the imaginary realm of Dominia where each player is a magician(Fire-Eater: mage, acctually) duelling with an opponent to gain world control. The cards represent land masses, characters and energy, and come in five colours.
Mitchell said the cards were classified as common, uncommon and rare and some of the top cards are worth thousands of dollars.
"In the United Kingdom the game attracts an older crowd but most players at international tournaments are between 16 and 25."
Magic is played regularly at the Internet Lounge in Sea Point and Stadium on Main in Claremont.
Garth Murray runs an information website at www.mtghome.co.za(Fire-Eater: What an advert'!
). He can also be contacted at 083 600 1988.