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Games Entertainment

Public Transit Reality Game 175

Posted by Zonk from the elementary,-my-dear-holmes dept.
Corngood writes "Like Pacmahattan, but with streetcars. Toronto designer Joel Friesen has created a giant game of tag using cell phones and Toronto's public transit system. Live Action Scotland Yard (L.A.S.Y.) is a giant game of hide and seek. One guy tries to hide by using the subway system while three or four other people have to find out where he is by the clues he leaves and the dispatchers phoned in instructions. The game starts this Saturday the 23rd, he's looking for more players. It's free, promotes public transport, and there will be beers afterwards."
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Public Transit Reality Game More

Public Transit Reality Game

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  • If the guy decided to give out fake clues
    • Another reason it will suck:

      Going on my experience of the costs and reliability of public transport, this game will take three weeks and will cost about fifty quid per participant. That's if the drivers aren't on strike. And you don't get murdered at the bus stop.
      • Well, according to the way this is described: 1) It would take no longer than one day 2) A prerequisite of participating is either a "monthly pass" or a "day pass," so basically the entire cost of playing is either a couple of dollars (day pass, estimated cost from experience in US) or nothing (for the people that already use public transportation enough to have a monthly pass).

        • TTC Day Passes (Score:2, Informative)

          by DotNM ( 737979 ) *
          The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) has day passes available at a rate of $8. This provides unlimited travel on all TTC routes (busses, streetcars and subways) for the entire day.

          From the TTC website:
          Unlimited* one-day travel on Saturdays**, Sundays and statutory holidays from the start of service until 5:30 a.m. the next morning, for a group of up to 6 people:

          2 adults alone, or with up to 4 Children/Youths (Youth = *19 years of age or under). or

          1 adult alone, or with up to 5 Children/Youths (Yout

  • Summary is redundant (Score:5, Funny)

    by JahToasted ( 517101 ) <toastafari@yaho[ ]om ['o.c' in gap]> on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:39PM (#13084243) Homepage
    Its an activity taking place in Canada. The part about having beer afterward is implied.
    • I resent that.

      In Canada, having beer WHILE doing something is implied. I'm tired of this stereotype, like how we pronounce aboot "about" and how we don't live in igloos. It makes me SICK,
      • I'm from Canada. Sorry, you may not like it, but that's life. The vast majority of activities outside work involve beer. BTW - I have nothing wrong with that at all.
      • as a Canadian, all i can say is that i'm drunk right now... as a matter of fact, i was drunk when i woke up, i was drunk at work, and i was drunk after work

        i don't recall being sober at any time in the past 3 years... i love being a Canadian

        • Eeek. Canadians don't know how to drink. I'm a Briton living in Toronto and waiting for Canadian citizenship... I can show you how to drink. And whilst we're on the subject, I'm bored to tears with this stereotype about American beer. I'm in California for a week and the local brews are so much better than in Canada. I will go to Smokeless Joes when I return, but I will probably drink European imports there *sigh*
    • Its an activity taking place in Canada. The part about having beer afterward is implied.

      And to fit in with the rest of the people on public transit, you could even start with a few beers.

      When you get caught, you have to drink. And if you spill your beer (or get it confiscated by transit cops) you're it, and you have to drink. :-P
    • :-)

      In this case the beer afterwards should, of course, be at Scotland Yard, the pub, on The Esplanade. A very nice pub.

      I miss living in Toronto.

  • Who read the page? lol (Score:4, Insightful)

    by someguy456 ( 607900 ) <someguy456@phreaker.net> on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:41PM (#13084253) Homepage Journal
    reat idea..

    Since it is 'Live action' though would be good to come up with a way to get away from the 'turn based' concept of the board game and move towards a more real-time based game.

    Would also be interresting to incorporate clues as to mr. X's whereabouts instead of completely revealing the location.

    Would also be good to reduce the person at HQ to one or two people who relay the clues to the detectives to alow more people to be out in the field.
    • In the real Scotland Yard boardgame, knowing exactly where Mr. X was ever few turns was hard enough. Also, playing Mr. X was the only real fun part of the game. The rest of it was trying to catch Mr. X quickly so that you could finally be Mr. X. Still, it is a family favorite of mine.

  • erm (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 )
    Is it just me or does anyone else find games fun because all you need is your thumbs?

    I have bad legs (was born with a club foot etc. and had a lot of surgery to fix it, but still not perfect) and find things like this and DDR more painful then fun.

    So for some people who can enjoy them, WTF is the fun in stamping on pads or riding trains?

    • Re:erm (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Mozk ( 844858 )
      Well when you say stamping on pads or riding trains, it doesn't sound fun at all. That'd be like me saying WTF is the fun in pushing buttons. There's more to it than that.
    • Is it just me or does anyone else find games fun because all you need is your thumbs?

      So for some people who can enjoy them, WTF is the fun in stamping on pads or riding trains?

      Ever heard of endorphins? [wikipedia.org]

    • BlindMan (Score:3, Funny)

      by MacFury ( 659201 )
      BlindMan: What the hell is so great about being able to interpet various intensities of light?

    • Re:erm (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 16, 2005 @09:17PM (#13084622)
      I don't have any thumbs you insensitive clode...
    • Is it just me or does anyone else find games fun because all you need is your thumbs?

      Ummm, there are quite a few fun games that don't involve using your thumbs. In fact, the only games I can think of that only use your thumbs are video games and thumb wrestling. There's a whole other world out there (if you're willing to leave the basement)...
    • While we all appreciate the fact that some people aren't able to partake in outdoor activities, possibly including those who are chronically indisposed to sunlight, just because one subset of people cannot enjoy them doesn't mean the rest don't.

  • OMG (Score:2, Funny)

    by ForumTroll ( 900233 )
    Wow, hide and seek with cell phones....

  • "Reality game"? (Score:5, Funny)

    by wankledot ( 712148 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:43PM (#13084263)
    I guess all those times I played hide-and-go-seek in the woods when I was a little kid now qualify as a "reality game."

    Good to know.

    • Yeah, my first thought was "Reality game? You need a special term for games that aren't electronic?" But I guess there are people who have never played a game without peering at a video screen. Pretty sad, really.

  • I can see it now: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bananatree3 ( 872975 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:45PM (#13084274)

    Boss: So, Mr. Jones, What did you do on your lunch break?


    Mr.Jones: Well, a couple of my coworkers and I played this really cool game of high-tech tag!! I was AWSOME!!


    Boss: I See. {ahem}. Do you know you're an adult, Mr. Jones?


    Mr.Jones: Yes, I know it sounds dumb, but it was really REALLY FUN!

    • Boss: So, Mr. Jones, What did you do on your lunch break? Mr.Jones: Well, a couple of my coworkers and I played this really cool game of high-tech tag!! I was AWSOME!!

      Must have been a looooong lunch break if you have to move around on public transit.

  • Obscure? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hwatzu ( 89518 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:47PM (#13084284)
    The winner will be the first one who makes it to Mornington Crescent.
    • But with Queensway AND Terminal 4 closed, the only legal move is a Shaftsbury Loop via Gants Hill.
    • You're playing Canadian Set rules though, so Mornington Crescent can only be reached following a parallel move from a position in spoon, surely?
      • Specifically, playing the Toronto subset, meaning that the Marmelade Sandwich rule for unblocking Paddington is replaced with the Beer Drinking Rule.

  • Technology: Pro/Con (Score:5, Informative)

    by LordMyren ( 15499 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:49PM (#13084289) Homepage
    this is awsome. i spent many years of my youth enjoying scotland yard. a truly fantastic game; get the boardgame or get the recent OS independent python implmeneted London Law [umich.edu] free computer game remake (as mentioned on slashdot [slashdot.org]).

    the down sides:
    - cell phone reception in the tube: ass.
    - planting RFID clues will get you shot as a terrorist.
    - (generall) RFID lacks sufficient range to be truly useful for this

    it'd be much cooler if you could start tagging the real world & leaving markups on things. subways, unfortunately, while one of the coolest places to do this, are also some of the most likely to get you shot on sight for being a terrorist.

    myren

  • I know I'm a party-pooper, but ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:52PM (#13084298)
    This is NOT the time for (deliberately) anomalous behaviour on public transit.
  • But I don't have a cell phone anymore. Anyone want to loan me one?

  • Perhaps Dangerous (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Laivincolmo ( 778355 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:55PM (#13084318)
    How long will it be before one of these player, just trying to have fun, will be arrested for suspicious behavior around public transportation? The times we live in are sad.
    • How about the players notify officials if they are going to play the game?

      But wait, that would be the perfect cover for terrorist who *really are* plotting something.

      OTOH, this would be *perfect* training for a strike team trying to catch a mystery perosn in a public transit system.

    • Re:Perhaps Dangerous (Score:5, Insightful)

      by HermanAB ( 661181 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @08:51PM (#13084536)
      Relax d00d - this is Canada. There are a few places left in the world where people are reasonably sane and the police are friendly and helpful...
      • There are a few places left in the world where people are reasonably sane and the police are friendly and helpful...

        Like the time the policeman pointed to the corner where the hunted player was. TAG! Hahahaha the cop totally gave you away!!!
        • Part of the stated mission of the RCMP is to promote tourism. Some police in red dress uniform are always present at popular tourist spots and you can walk up, chat and pet the horse.
    • All be wearing their official Slashdot sponsor [thinkgeek.com] shirts. Like duh!!

    • Re:Perhaps Dangerous (Score:3, Insightful)

      by wing03 ( 654457 )
      How long will it be before one of these player, just trying to have fun, will be arrested for suspicious behavior around public transportation? The times we live in are sad.

      With a big X on a red shirt and a D on a yellow shirt....

      The location looks very much like the heart of downtown Toronto. I think they'll fit right in with University of Toronto engineering students doing goofy things and looking like a sore thumb.

  • Free (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:55PM (#13084319)
    there will be beers afterwards

    Free beers? That's an importnat factor in the decision tree.

  • Maybe I'm missing something (Score:3, Insightful)

    by temi ( 899624 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @07:56PM (#13084322)
    Or maybe it's just me. I feel like a game like this catching on around the tech world is really a bad idea. In the wake of terrorist bombings on mass transit and cellphone detonation scares, its kind of like playing soccer in a field of landmines....
    • Oh, come on now. Your chances are much, much better of being hit by a car or mugged in plain daylight while walking on the sidewalk rather than being caught in such an action. Fears on the topic (presuming you consider walking on the sidewalk a reasonable activity) are thus unreasonable -- and if you're letting the terrorists engender unreasonable fears... well, there's a tired old phrase that might be due to be trotted out yet again.
      • damnit.
      • I would give your response more validity normally, but in reality the stats you used are of a more linear nature, while the overreaction/backlash to terrorist activities at this point in the 1st world is more impulse-like in nature.

        My comments of this being a likely problem are in complete context of our current state-of-the-world view on terrorism.

        So yes "if you let the terrorist engender unreasonable fears, then they have already won"
        but... if you are bold enough to ignore plain-sight common sense t

        • I think I understand what you mean.

          What I don't like are knee-jerk reactions, like the kind that got us the PATRIOT act, and I think we need to start educating people not to respond irrationally. It is an uphill battle though.

        • but... if you are bold enough to ignore plain-sight common sense then you are dead.

          We differ about whether this falls within the realm of "plain-sight common sense". Even if the risk were significant, which I refuse to accept:

          Hospitalized if you're especially unlucky, maybe. Dead? Not so likely. And if you are unlucky enough to be harmed -- well, you get to be a poster child for why people shouldn't react unreasonably (with potential for media coverage, and a succesful lawsuit on the part of yoursel

        • Let's say, for the sake of an argument, that you were right -- that the chance of being harmed by a 3rd party while playing this game on account of being mistaken for engagement in terrorist activities were a substantial one.

          Let's say that this risk were 3x the ambient risk level of folks spending time outside in the city (muggings, automobile accidents, etc). I think this is an outrageously exaggerated number, but I'll grant it to you for the sake of this argument.

          Now: Do you consider it worthwhile to wa
    • Or maybe it's just me. I feel like a game like this catching on around the tech world is really a bad idea. In the wake of terrorist bombings on mass transit and cellphone detonation scares, its kind of like playing soccer in a field of landmines....
      So are you saying cell phones should be banned in subway stations?

      The whole point of this game is to utilize something that everyone already has (a cellphone). There is no increaced security risk whatsoever.
    • I like my landmines, thank you very much.
    • its kind of like playing soccer in a field of landmines....

      The landmines being the hair-trigger populace waiting to yell "terrorist!" at anything that moves (unless it's on TV).
  • ...but I can't be the only one who read the quote at the bottom as:

    If you lose a son you can always get another, but there's only one Millenium Falcon. -- Sidney Greenstreet, "The Maltese Falcon"

  • Great moments in timing (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Introverted, suspicious-looking people acting strange on public transportation. What a wonderful point in history to do this! Maybe the next game should have something to do with box cutters and airplanes.

  • Basis (Score:3, Informative)

    by n00dles ( 88308 ) on Saturday July 16, 2005 @08:19PM (#13084396)
    This is based on a reasonably enjoyable board game.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Yard_board_g ame [wikipedia.org]
  • virtual reality won't let you know what it really smells like on a bus...
    sometimes that's the best (worse?) part.

  • Other games (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I was in the Bronx yesterday and someone had just finished up a live game of Unreal Tournament,...oh, maybe it was just a driveby shooting.
  • Ya know, I just have this vision of 20+ geeks trying to recapture their lost youth by arranging to meet in the woods and play hide and seek. Maybe staying home and playing on the C64 all day long as kids really did have a negative effect on us, just like our mothers told us it would.
  • Yeah, great idea to advertise here. We all know what happenes when a website gets /.'ed.

    What happens when a city transit system is invaded?

  • This is just the thing to go with the London Cabbie Game. http://www.hellodere.com/cabbie.htm/ [hellodere.com] Cabbies play it live-action in London every day.

    It gets rather surreal when you play both on the same day. Scotland Yard does that a lot -- they even get paid to play it!

  • I've done this (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Stu22 ( 793796 )
    Two years ago I was at an IDSA student conference in Boston with my classmates. The building they held the conference in was about 15 stories tall, and there was a lightboard on one of the walls that said which floor each elevator was on. We tracked down two walkie-talkies and did this basic premise. One person would get on the elevators and have a 30 second head start, one person would then follow with a walkie talkie, and a third person would stand at the lightboard with the other walkie talkie, trying to
  • As a former torontonian, and someone who still has a copy of the board game kicking around, I think this is a great idea. The rules they posted are pretty reasonable granting real life versus a game, so I will certainly check it out to see how it went.
  • "Public Transit Reality Game"

    Reality game. That's just 'game' then.

    What next? "Children Play 'Revolutionary Plague Re-enactment' Reality Game"?
  • Wow guys, great timing.

    Lets see how the public react to suspicious characters skulking round the subway system with cellphones.

    Why didn't you just call it 'hide the terrorist'.

  • How about I drink all the beer then give totally random directions . The object of the game is to see whats happens first . Will I pass out or will the players give up ?
  • Unless you want to go to jail.
  • Reminds me of a game from uni. All players would give the game controller a photocopy of their ID card, and receive someone else's. Your aim is to locate the person and their movements, advise the controller how and when you plan to "kill" them (e.g. water pistol on exit from class in room X at time Y), and collect whatever cards they're holding. Mark their card to show they're out.
    Winner holds all cards in the end.

    It was co-ordinated using (pre-Internet) email, but these days the options are more flexi

  • wth (Score:1)

    by rupert0 ( 885882 )
    On wich state of drunkness you have to be, and go OMFG REALITY GAME OF Toronto's transit system !!! ?
  • Maybe I should make sure he doesn't hide in the Minneapolis subway: the tunnel under the airport for the city's single passenger rail line.

  • Reminds me of the "Assassins" game we used to play back in High School. Basically a live action role-playing game where the GM would assign targets and innovative ways of ways of "killing" them like shooting them with a water pistol or planting some device which represented a bomb in their locker or whatever.

    Of course, nowadays high schoolers would probably get sent to Gitmo for playing such games. Back then it was against the rules but you were only risking detention, and that only contributed to the fu

  • http://www.streetwars.net/ [streetwars.net]

    although quite a different game, it does involve having a bunch of people from 1 city play it, probably people you've never met or heard of. a bunch of these city-wide games have emerged recently.
  • Someone should spoil their party and organize a public GTA-like game in the same day :)

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