A few days after Riker is introduced to a strange new game while vacationing on Risa, he brings it back to the Enterprise, which is running a little ragged with a large science investigation underway. The game quickly spreads (to Deanna, and then to Beverly), as Wesley comes back on board for a vacation from the Academy.

Wes and Data talk for a bit about their mutual experiences at the Academy (among other topics, the Sadie Hawkins dance and practical jokes), and Wes then meets and quickly takes a shine to Ensign Robin Lefler, who has friends back at the Academy who've mentioned Wes to her. Meanwhile, Beverly calls Data to sickbay to help her with something-but when he arrives, she deactivates him, moves him onto a med-table, and begins positronic brain surgery.

Picard and Wes talk for a bit about Wes's experiences at the Academy, only to be interrupted by a call from Bev about how Data's suddenly gone into the android equivalent of a coma. Geordi and Riker check Data's quarters to see if he's left behind any records about what to do in cases like this, but find nothing-and Riker says that Geordi looks tired, and needs a break- and he has just the thing...

Wes's and Robin's relationship is taking a turn for the better-enough so that Wes, hurrying for a dinner date, doesn't have time to try the game, despite Beverly's best efforts. At dinner, conversation eventually turns to the game (everyone but the two of them seem to be playing it), and they eventually get a copy and test it on a med-simulation, which reveals that it stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain directly, and is highly addictive. (It also is somehow affecting the brain's higher reasoning centers, although they're not sure how.) Wes runs to tell Picard about this, who promises a full investigation-but as soon as Wes leaves, Picard straps on his own copy...

Wes and Robin, besieged by requests and demands to try the game, decide to see what's wrong with Data, correctly reasoning that his sudden injury was just a little too convenient. They find that a few of his positronic pathways have been severed-severed so finely, in fact, that only Beverly or Geordi would have the expertise to do it. Something more than a simple addiction is clearly going on. As a ship comes into range, Picard orders copies of the game distributed shipwide, including to Wesley. Worf and Beverly find Wes and Robin hooked already, and leave- and Wes and Robin remove their fake games, relieved Robin heads for Engineering (she's on duty), and the nearby ship comes close enough for Picard to hail her. "The Enterprise has been secured. We await your further instructions."

Those instructions involve spreading the game to other ships and starbases-and, with Wes's presence, the Academy. Wes eventually goes to Engineering with a plan, but finds Robin hooked, and Riker and Worf in wait. He eludes them for a while, but eventually is caught, taken to the bridge, and forcibly made to "play". Just then, the lights dim, and a very functional Data (whom Wes managed to repair) shines a palm beacon with a particular series of flashes that snaps everyone out of it. The Kitarian ship is captured easily and taken to starbase 82, and Wes and Robin bid each other fond farewells as Wes returns to the Academy.

Highlight Listing:

"The Game" - The fate of the Federation is in Wesley Crusher's hands when he returns to find the crew of the Enterprise addicted to a dangerous new game.

Advertising Headline:

DEADLY GAME! The crew is enslaved by an addictive mind game!

TV log listing:

Crew falls victim to deadly mind game on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Operation SNAFU

When the crew are forcing Wesley to play the game, and Riker is holding his eyes open, Wesley blinks. (V)

Technical design, graphic design, interactive features, HTML & CGI programming by Andrew Tong. || All materials Copyright © 1987-1995 by their respective authors. || Document created: January 28, 1995 || Last Modified: July 12, 1999