Taking a leaf out of the well thumbed book written by Hollywood Stock Exchange, European exhibition support organisation Europa Cinemas has launched an on-line film game.

The Great Game (Le Grand Jeu) went live on Monday (Nov 20) - at www.europa-cinemas.org - as part of the organisation's annual Netd@ys initiative, which allows young surfers to discover European film theatres and films. Players take on the role of a journalist who must travel across Europe to find out the names of European actors and directors and in doing so will have to visit the web-sites of several arthouse theatres supported by Europa Cinemas.

"Our objective is to make use of today's information technology to address a mainly teenage audience and help them discover the range of things that are going on throughout European cinema," said Fatima Djoumer, Europa Cinemas' executive. "And by running the game for six or seven months we will be able to extend the impact of Netd@ys."

The site is complemented by an online magazine The News, which presents news, statistics and personality profiles as well as a large number of links to theatres and publications and other organisations.

Europa Cinemas is funded by the European Commission's Media II Programme, Eureka Audiovisuel, the Council Of Europe's Eurimages programme and France's Centre National de la Cinematographie and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.