In Philadelphia yesterday, scores of pickets gathered in front of Urban Outfitters' headquarters holding banners, one of which said, "Stop selling racist products." Store executives would not meet with protesters or talk to reporters, a silence they have maintained during a week of controversy from Seattle to St. Petersburg. Critics say the company is profiting from a product that makes fun of poverty, disease, drug addiction, and other social problems in minority communities.

The game's 28-year-old creator, David T. Chang, said Ghettopoly is edgy, not racist. Ghettopoly makes fun of many ethnic groups, he said, including Asians, the Irish, Hispanics, Italians and Jews. There's even a Chinese restaurant owner who sells dog - a jab at Chang's heritage as the son of a Taiwanese restaurateur. But it's based largely on African American culture, he said, because "for me to put an Asian guy in a game called Ghettopoly would be a little off."