GAME OVER By David Sheff (Random House/Hodder, $245) THIS is a book for Americans who believe that paranoia is a game all the family can play. Tired of wondering about the Japanese invasion of the car and property markets? Try worrying about the toy business instead. You will be aided and abetted by a blurbfrom the Invasion of the Body Snatchers school of business writing, and the undoubted fact that Nintendo products have been very popular in the Home of the Brave.
For those of us who are not sure - or do not care - if the Japanese are taking over America, there is also much to enjoy.
Mr Sheff has the priceless gift of being able to catch the excitement of business: the uncertainty, the effort, the suspense, the clash of personalities.
He can read a balance sheet, of course. But to make a success of this kind of book you also need to be able to catch the flavour of a wet weekend in Seattle, particularly when experienced for the first time by someone who expected to spend her married life in Kyoto.
Much suspicion - not all of it honestly motivated - has been cast on the success of Nintendo in the American market. Explanations range from ''a scorched earth policy'' by the particular company to general suspicions of Japanese skulduggery. It is a partof some people's world view that any playing field on which the Americans are not winning is not a level playing field.
Conspiracy theorists can relax. Clearly the main ingredients in Nintendo's success are traditional and familiar items like a lot of hard work and some good decisions.