New Game Is What You Might Call a 52-Card Pickup

Women who have been on the singles scene long enough are familiar with the cast of male characters. There are the “ponytail guys” who hold on to the 1970s for dear life; the “cell phone/pager-on-belt guys” sporting their electronic tool belts even at parties; the “fake tan guys” with that orangish George Hamilton year-round glow; and others. Well, a new card game is actually sending women out looking for these types--for fun.

That Guy Game includes 52 cards, each featuring a retro-looking caricature of a type, including the ponytail, electronic tool belt and tan guys. The cards are dealt equally to all players, who then hit the town to find the guys on their cards. Players may be required to bring the guy back to a group leader as proof before turning in the card. The player with the fewest number of cards in hand at the end of the night wins.

The game has been on sale at Lifestylz on Larchmont Boulevard (and online at https://www.thatguygame.com) for two months now, and customers (including Julia Roberts) have been snapping it up for bachelorette parties and other all-girl events. But, oddly enough, it was invented by two guys--L.A. comedians John Heffron, 30, and Joel Zimmer, 31.

Heffron has been promoting the game himself, carrying it with him when he goes out at night and offering it to women to try out. His type? “I guess that made me the annoying ‘I invented a game so would you play it guy,’ ” he said.

A couple of weeks ago, Heffron stumbled on a group of women playing it at the Coconut Club in Beverly Hills. “It was the coolest thing,” he said. “I called Josh on my cell phone.” He approached the game-playing group to introduce himself as the inventor but was promptly told to get lost. He joked later, “I might as well have gone up to them and said I invented Uno.”

Heffron and Zimmer are planning a version of the game for men. May I suggest “the mouthy blond girl”?

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Mobster movie boss Martin Scorsese (“Goodfellas” and “Casino”) will direct a movie about the Gucci empire. The film, adapted from Gerald McKnight’s 1987 book, “Gucci: A House Divided,” will tell the juicy tale of the murder of Maurizio Gucci, grandson of the label’s founder, Guccio Gucci. In 1998, Maurizio’s wife, Patrizia Reggiani Martini, was sentenced in Italy to 29 years in prison for ordering the shooting of her husband.

Production and cast info has not been released. Scorsese is currently in Rome filming “Gangs of New York” with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Another book about the storied family, “The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed,” written by former Women’s Wear Daily Milan bureau chief Sara Gay Forden, was just released by William Morrow.

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After sweating out the ILoveYou computer virus in May, afraid to open any of my e-mails for fear they’d be tainted, I was relieved to hear about https://www.VMyths.com, a Web site that claims to debunk computer hoaxes and myths. Operated by self-proclaimed “computer virus hysteria expert” Rob Rosenberger, the site offers continual updates on viruses (real and phony).

The latest? Direct-threat chain letters, in which hackers threaten to attack your computer if you don’t forward their e-mail to 10 friends within 45 minutes.

Booth Moore’s column runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. She can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.