Up for a little verbal abuse? Do you like trivia games rife with sarcasm?

Then Jellyvision and Sierra Attractions have a program for you that fits nicely into that category. It’s called You Don’t Know Jack 5th Dementia. This program can be played by up to three players in the home version; or, if you are playing solo (and if so, you will come in for ridicule from the host of the game – his tamest line tells you that you are the best player they have here), you can go online at flipside.com. But if you choose the latter option, be prepared to really test your knowledge of trivia.

The game itself begins with a general category, such as the outdoors episode – written for all those people who believe Bambi’s mother had it coming (yep, that’s what they tell you). You must set a dollar amount by buzzing in, then you launch into the questions. There are the general multiple-choice questions, and a few other games thrown in among the 15 questions asked. There is a game where you swat flies of items that don’t belong in the category, unscrambling anagrams, ‘Dis or Dat’ where you put items into their proper category, and ‘Jack Attack’ where you must select the proper word to complete a phrase. You score money for each correct answer, and lose it for each wrong one.

Controls for this program are very easy. You are given a buzz-in key, and then if you buzz in fast enough, you can hit the appropriate numerical key for your answer. Nothing could be simpler.

5th Dementia proclaims itself to be the place where high culture and pop culture collide. Each question is twisted just enough to infuse it with no-holds barred opinion. Say the category is the allergic reactions to bad films. Gagging as he asks the question, the narrator will ask how you would cure an allergic reaction to the film “Poison Ivy.” Of course, you have to think about the actual plant. If you did, you would answer: Blind yourself with calamine lotion.

Graphically this program does a solid job with every facet of the game. It utilizes the multimedia abilities of a computer rather nicely, though simply. The graphics are nothing spectacular, but do fit the framework of the game. The audio is very good.

As an added inducement to purchase this game, it comes with a free snack – Act II popcorn. Of course, if you have played the other incarnations of the You Don’t Know Jack series, you won’t need any inducements.

The program is rated Teen for mature content, suggestive themes and language. As the warning states, most kids won’t get the humor in this game anyway. It really is an adult program.

If your sensibilities are easily upset, this program is not for you. If, however, you have a delightfully wicked sense of humor, can stand wit that is irreverent, semi-caustic but funny, you will thoroughly enjoy this program. Just make sure you can laugh at yourself though, because you will be the butt of some of the jokes.

Install: Easy. This program consumes 275 megs of hard drive space, but goes on quickly.

Gameplay: 8. Transitions are smooth, in-game instructions are easy to understand and follow, controls are simple, and the game zips along.

Graphics: 7.5. The graphical elements of this program aren’t awe-inspiring, but they do convey the essence of the program very well, and are a treat for the eyes. You don’t have to hunt the monitor for the answers, or questions, everything is presented in a manner that makes it easy to answer the questions (albeit right or wrong).

Sound: 8.5. The sound quality of this program is very good. Vocal effects, background music, and the squishes of bug splatter, and other effects, are well rendered.

Difficulty: 8.5. Though you can reason out some of the answers, having a solid foundation in useless information is a must to really succeed in this program. It’s almost like Trivia Pursuit on steroids.

Concept: 7. This is the latest in a long line of You Don’t Know Jack titles, but it still manages to delight with freshness and the timeliness of the questions.

Overall: 8. Gather the friends and pop in this program for a ride that will have you snickering, sneering, confused, feeling inept and laughing. YDKJ 5th Dementia is adult humor at its irreverent best.