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A L S O__T O D A Y 21st Log SF classic "Lensman" moves to the desktop - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Did you shop on the Web this holiday season? Share your experiences in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk ___________________ Search barnesandnoble.com for books about technology ___________________   R E C E N T L Y The science of selfishness By Andrew Brown Richard Dawkins' latest book says that selfish genes don't make selfish humans (12/22/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Yes, there is a better search engine. While the portal sites fiddle, Google catches fire (12/21/98) Microsoft on Microsoft By Karlin Lillington How does the software giant spin its own history in its reference products? (12/18/98) Pod people By Janelle Brown Peapod, the online grocery service, sounds great -- but can it deliver? (12/17/98) Boon or boondoggle? By Nicholas Confessore The E-Rate subsidizes Net access for schools and libraries -- and your telephone company wants to kill it (12/16/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST REVIEWS ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - -

Are we having high-tech fun yet? WITH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND A GOURMET MENU, ENTROS JOINS THE PACK OF GAME PALACES FOR GROWN-UPS. BY JANELLE BROWN I've got a beer in one hand, a pencil in the other and a woman in a French twist and two rhinestone chokers breathing down my neck. My boyfriend and I are trying to find the "spirit rock" -- we suspect it's the plastic boulder in the corner. This latest clue in a series will lead us to the "time-traveling supercriminal Serrin" who, from what we can decipher from an instructional video, is planning to murder a bunch of natives in the 18th century with a semiautomatic weapon. It's the Thursday before Christmas at Entros, and the main thought going through my head is, "I paid 20 bucks for this?" What does Entros mean? As the effervescent young women at the front door recited for me, "It's a unique name because we're a unique place." It is, in plain English, the latest in high-tech entertainment for grown-ups: an "Intelligent Amusement Park" that mixes interactive games with fusion cuisine and microbrews. Adults, you see, are no longer supposed to simply enjoy adult entertainments (you know, cocktail parties, poetry readings) but are being given their own arcadelike establishment where they too can play games -- adult games -- and frolic like teens. But at adult prices, of course. Entros, in San Francisco, is the second outpost of a growing chain that, with a recent $20 million investment, plans to have 10 restaurants across the country by 2001. The premise, according to president and CEO Stephen Brown, is "to provide social people a better way of enjoying their friends ... We're not interested in using technology to try to wow people, but we do like to use it in innovative ways to help people learn new things about each other." The concept, he says, is more Pictionary than pinball. Entros is, in other words, a kind of high-tech, getting-to-know-you hell. Like a number of similarly thematic establishments riddled with tech toys and games that are popping up across the country, Entros is based on the idea of drawing affluent geek professionals out from behind their computer terminals and into a social environment. Just give 'em some microbrews and some "multimedia," and the $20s will flow like water. Entros San Francisco is a two-level building with two bars, a downstairs restaurant and games scattered along the edges. The decor is a mishmash of modern industrial, with hints of jungle adventure and American nostalgia memorabilia (most of the "theme" decor is part of various games). There's no cover charge to come in and eat; however, if you want to play the games you'll have to pay $20 a person. This is not arcade-style entertainment; games take between 10 and 45 minutes. You can drink your cocktails and snack between games, or you can do the full sit-down meal (the entrees are pricey, around $17.95 a plate). A full evening at Entros, with games and a meal, could easily cost $75 a person. On the night that I visited, Entros was half empty -- perhaps because the restaurant was just a few weeks old, perhaps because everyone was too busy Christmas shopping. The average age of the mixed-gender crowd was about 33, and the going attire seemed to be a blue button-down shirt or a little black dress. Entros is definitely targeting a gourmet yuppie crowd, as evidenced by the fusion cuisine -- a strange but tasty mix of salsa, soy sauce and Asian/Southwest food ("Duck Mole Spring Rolls" and "Cantonese Tequila-Marinated Grilled Chicken"). The food, however, is far better than the games. Not only are the games not particularly high-tech -- they're mostly just downright cheesy. N E X T_ P A G E .|. Game shows 'r' fun! and other tricks from the Human Resources manual