Strangers had come to town to construct and operate a new kind of recreation: a great fun-house for adults. A sinister Disneyland with overtones of the World's Fair, carnival, gambling house, brothel, side-show, circus, and The Balcony. Here one could buy adult adventure. The strangers leased a great, empty warehouse near the docks and in it they built a labyrinth of rooms and passages. There were gates, obstacles, puzzles, games, and other people. What choices one had no one knew, and these choices would often be changed. It was all synthetic and symbolic, safe and legitimate.

But rumors alerted the town that concealed within the Great Gaming House were real games: gamblers could find high stakes, hostesses would sleep with patrons, etc. There was no way to distinguish the real from the synthetic, nor could the player sort the shills from the guests.