Siko Blog

I played a Street Game tonight, put on by art students. It took place just north of the Chicago Loop, in an area from Halsted to Michigan, and from North Avenue to the Chicago River.

I went up there with a Parkour friend. We had to be at Washington Square Park at 7:30. There was about 75 people there who were playing, mostly young, 50/50 split Male/Female. We were given a rudimentary reading of the rules and objectives. We were also given a well-made map, a team-colored ribbon to tie on your left arm, and a nametag of sorts, not your real name, but a name, nonetheless. This nametag was worn on your right hand, attached to a rubber band. The game probably didn’t start until more like 8:00.

Here’s the rules:
To finish, you must obtain stamps on your map and proceed to the finish line. There were 12 different stamps in 12 different areas around the city, all marked on your map, with clues leading you to specifically where the stamp was. You only needed 9 stamps to finish the game, not all 12. You can run, walk, or take the EL. No rollerblades, buses, taxes, rocket packs…his joke, not mine. (although I liked it.)

There was three teams: yellow, orange, and purple. Yellow kills Purple, Purple kills Orange, Orange kills Yellow. You get someone by touching them. Once you get them, they give you their nametag, and any nametags that were previously captured.

There were safezones. Each stamp location had a 20 ft safezone to it. Trains were safezones.

So, there were two battles being played. Getting stamps and getting nametags. Each helped you or your team win trophies at the end.

My experience:
I had a lot of fun, although I’ve played in better games with more interesting rules. The most fun I had was scanning person after person from a distance, being suspicious of whether they were playing the game. I was on the yellow team, and orange looks very similar to yellow from a distance. And purple, you can’t see! But as my posse changed throughout the night, I usually let them guide, as I was the lookout.

One time we had members of each team at a safe zone, none wanting to leave cause the opposite color would chase them.

At one safe zone stamp location, There was three of my team and four of the purple team, who we were supposed to kill. At a nondescript time in conversation between teams, the alpha male of the group suddenly bolted away, not wanting to be captured by us. We let him go…although we obtained information on where they were going next. We tracked them down a couple streets and set an ambush, but we think they saw us. So, I went out by myself to cut them off. I peer around a corner. They are crossing the alley as I look out. I wait for them to get out of site and run through the alley. I get to the street and begin running/shuffling in a way as to not give myself away. The main guy I was targeting, the same guy that booked off before, looked back to say something to a teammate and just the right time, seeing me and took off again. He was faster than me, and my surprise was lost. So, I turned around and hunted a girl down.

I ended with getting all 12 stamps and getting to the finish line at 12:00, and I had 9 nametags. I never got killed, but I wasn’t in many situations where I encountered the orange team where they weren’t idiots. I had the most on my team, and got a keychain trophy for my victory. However, an orange player named Monkey got 14. (If I was greedy at the end, I would have ended up with 19. I knew the location of a girl that had 10 nametags that I could have fairly easily killed…for the second time. I let it slide…her name was Indy.)

And then, at the afterparty, there were the traditional war stories of the night, but nothing coming close to things I’ve heard after a game of Outpost. It was still fun to hear though.

And then the game maker sang us a song while playing his accordion! All was well.

Respect.

Polyamory

A comedic Zelda spoof. I’ve been watching it for awhile now, but I wanted to wait until all the episodes were out until I told you guys about them. There are six.

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6

Enjoy!

Go to youtube and search for Survivor Application Videos.

Mine is the first.

It has gotten 7000 views and is rated high. (brushing dirt off my shoulder)