The Game

[Maguspk]

I'm watching "The Game" a movie starring Micheal Douglas and it's got a really interesting plot. The movie has a really kewl idea too, I haven't finished it but it's interesting so far, I hope it doesn't end too open ended like alot of movies like this tend to.

Upon further research I discovered that elaborate "games" like the movie, although not as morbid, actually take place, in places like San Fransisco and Seattle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_% ... re_hunt%29

Just interesting and thought I'd share, start a little discussion, I'd love to get involved in one of these RL Scavenger Hunts oneday, sound really fun.

[-Omni]

Guys, I just lost the game.



On topic though, I've always enjoyed scavenger hunts and it would be totally sweet to be in one on that big of a scale. It takes a lot of work, sure, but it really makes your mind work under pressure without too much stress, which is hard to come by these days.

[Rasengan]

Guys, I just lost the game.

Ugh, me too...

The game

[Elondir]

Guys, I just lost the game.

Ugh, me too...

The game

I thought you couldn't lose within 30 seconds of someone else near you losing/you seeing someone else lose, to prevent everyone losing at the same time?

I lost a long time ago so I can't remember .

[Resin]

FUCK I just lost too. Damn it all...

[Aravil]

God, I saw the title "The Game," lost the game, then went inside and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't that game. Now you guys ruined it.

[Xavier]

I personally loved this movie, thought it was great.

[thestalkmore]

Definitely one of my favorite movies

[LAGUNA]

That movie was pretty cool and twisted at the same time


For real life scavenger hunt kinda thing have you seen the show Treasure hunters?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_H ... _series%29

[Rheya]

I actually participated in a Game my senior year at Stanford. It was organized within our dorm/house, so was relatively small and tame compared to some of the larger ones described on the wiki, but it was one of the best things I have ever done and I'm really glad I did it.

I think our version took us 18 hours to complete, starting at 6pm Saturday evening and ending at noon on Sunday. The clues took us all over the Bay Area, from Stanford to Santa Clara back up to San Francisco.

My friends and I rented a van for The Game (ALWAYS referred to in caps!) and stocked it with everything we could use as a reference...textbooks, a Bible, Morse code, ASCII charts, codon charts, etc. Not to mention tons of coke to keep us up through the night.

There's really nothing like speeding down the 101 at 100mph in a rented van racing to your next clue at 2am. The puzzles are hard, but are even harder when you're fatigued at 4am...but that just adds to the fun.

I know that a lot of the hardcore Gamers still plan and execute Games in and around the Bay Area. There's an email discussion group on yahoogroups called "the_game". I highly recommend signing up for it...they usually announce all of their upcoming Games through that.


Most of these more hardcore Games can last over 24 hours, and usually require a completed application to join, and the application announcements themselves are sent out as cryptic clues. A puzzle before it even starts!

I live in DC now, so sadly there are no Games in my area. But, I would love to join one, and maybe even help plan one! DC has a ton of location s that lend themselves very well to Game antics.

[Ksandra]

I love that movie. :O

So cool they actually do that stuff. ^^

[Anyway]

Wiki reminds me of "The Amazing Race" on TV

[Kanodin]

Wow I did not realize people did real Games like that.

The Game was a really good movie. In order to match that type of psychological effect, one would have to make the applicant believe that it was just a BS game (read: lowercase game), but the scope of the Game goes over their heads until they are half into it. Part of the thrill is that you don't realize it's a Game.

[Rheya]

In order to match that type of psychological effect, one would have to make the applicant believe that it was just a BS game (read: lowercase game), but the scope of the Game goes over their heads until they are half into it. Part of the thrill is that you don't realize it's a Game.

That is one thing that the scavenger/clue hunt type Games do lack: the psychological thriller aspect. But that is usually replaced by the competition aspect: your team is racing from clue to clue, trying to solve every puzzle before the other teams do.

The planners of the more elaborate Games (listed as references on the wiki) usually throw in some cool twists. One year they gave every team a van that Game Control had equipped with GPS tracking systems, and the teams were freaked out that Game Control knew where they were at all times. Another year one of the clues was inside an abandoned prison, which would definitely be scary in the dead of night.

They get pretty creative.

[Rheya]

Slight necro bump, but I got some information about the first Game Control Summit getting organized for March 2nd somewhere in the SF bay area. Might be a good place for anyone interested to go see what goes into planning and running a Game, or participating in one.

This is the email invitation below that I got through The Game yahoo group:

------------------------------------------------------

Hi all

I would like to invite you to the first Game Control Summit, where Game
Controls can share information about running games, making clues, and
general planning tips about making a phenomenal gaming experience.

The date: March 2
The time: 7ish
Location: Likely somewhere on the Peninsula, TBD, with a function room
Subsidized by: Mind Candy, the makers of Perplex City (my current
employer)

As to why we're doing this, I think there's been a need for Game Controls
to share information in a bit more formal manner. I have a few topics I'd
like to see covered, and I'm open to people presenting on topics I don't
list below:
The history of Games in the Bay Area/Seattle/Florida
What makes a really good clue
Scouting location tips
Project management tips for game planning (DeeAnn... would you be
interested in this one?)

Part of this is to educate one of my coworkers at Mind Candy about how
games are run in the Bay Area, so this is why some of these are a bit more general than others, but I'm sure there are some bits of information that perhaps not everyone knows. The presentations should be about 15 minutes including a few questions from the audience. I'm thinking we can perhaps get through 6 of these while we're eating dinner. Slides would be fun, or interactive puzzles, whatever you think would work.

This is open to teams who have done GC, have done something similar (e.g. BANGs,) or teams who are interested in running a game. For coming, I can offer you free food and schwag from Mind Candy, as well as a wealth of information from people who run GC's. If you're interested in us saying
something about Alternative Reality Games, we can do a bit of a spiel as
well.

If you are interested in coming, please email me at
mailto:[email protected] before February 10th. Based on the numbers I
receive in the next week, I'll sort out a venue and a function room.

I look forward to seeing you there!
Best Regards,
Lisa

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[Resin]

/Sigh...I just lost again...



...and yes, that is quite the awesome movie.

[Ivaden]

I'll forever hate my ex for telling me about "the game."