Gameplay's HQ in London has been washed out due to a flood.

Staff - what's left of them - were ordered to abandon ship earlier today.

All calls to the London office are being redirected to Leeds where an operator there said the premises won't be re-opened until Monday at the earliest.

The fear is that Gameplay's techie kit might be suffering from rising damp. So far, its Web site seems OK.

No doubt plumbers are probably round there at the moment messing about with flanges, ball cocks and U-bends in a bid to save the drowning game-playing dotcom.

No one was available to comment on whether this flood was the result of a burst water pipe or a sewage leak.

Hey ho - shit happens. ®