Police Shut Down 3,000-Person Game of Hide-and-Seek At IKEA (housebeautiful.com) 88
An IKEA hide-and-seek game with 3,000 people was scheduled to take place in Glasglow, Scotland on Saturday, August 31, but police managed to put a stop to it before it even got started. From a report: The one-stop shop for everything home-related and also the ideal place for a 3,000-person hide-and-seek game. After all, the average store is about 300,000 square feet, while the world's largest IKEA is 700,000 square feet, and honestly, it's easy to imagine endless hiding spots. But unfortunately for one Facebook group, their planned trip to an IKEA in Glasgow, Scotland was cancelled after word got out about their Saturday event. Five police officers were called to the Braehead branch and remained at the store until the evening.
"People are stopping everyone who 'looks like they are here for a game of hide and seek,'" one person wrote on Facebook after stopping by the store, The Scotsman reported. The IKEA itself also had its own security personnel, and no incidents were reported. The report says that IKEA management initially allowed hide-and-seek events -- a trend that began in Belgium in 2014 -- but were eventually forced to ban the events after they began getting out of hand.
"The safety of our customers and co-workers is always our highest priority," said Rob Cooper, IKEA Glasgow Store Manager in a statement. "We were aware of an unofficial Hide and Seek Facebook event being organized to take place at our store today and have been working with the local police for support. While we appreciate playing games in one of our stores may be appealing to some, we do not allow this kind of activity to take place to ensure we are offering a safe environment and relaxed shopping experience for our customers."
"People are stopping everyone who 'looks like they are here for a game of hide and seek,'" one person wrote on Facebook after stopping by the store, The Scotsman reported. The IKEA itself also had its own security personnel, and no incidents were reported. The report says that IKEA management initially allowed hide-and-seek events -- a trend that began in Belgium in 2014 -- but were eventually forced to ban the events after they began getting out of hand.
"The safety of our customers and co-workers is always our highest priority," said Rob Cooper, IKEA Glasgow Store Manager in a statement. "We were aware of an unofficial Hide and Seek Facebook event being organized to take place at our store today and have been working with the local police for support. While we appreciate playing games in one of our stores may be appealing to some, we do not allow this kind of activity to take place to ensure we are offering a safe environment and relaxed shopping experience for our customers."
Not sanctioned by the store (Score:3)
And the police shut it down. Really, where’s the story in that?
Re:Not sanctioned by the store (Score:5, Funny)
The police didn't shut it down, they participated. They found everyone and won. Or perhaps they didn't find everyone? And some of them remain hidden in that IKEA till today? Who knows.
Re:Not sanctioned by the store (Score:5, Funny)
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I didn't say they were perfect, merely that they don't tend to spend their time gratuitously shooting non-white people for no reason. In fact, they don't shoot many people at all, for the reason I indicated in my previous comment.
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This is the UK.
Glasglow(sic) to be precise.
Me? I wouldn't want 3,000 Glaswegians in my shop either. Half of them will have swilled Buckfast as a warmup.
( http://www.ladbible.com/news/u... [ladbible.com] )
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I'm reminded of Good Omens, in which Crowley and Aziraphale divide the UK between them into spheres of influence. In Scotland, Aziraphale got Edinburgh... Crowley got Glasgow. Seems appropriate.
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Got anything a little more up-to-date? If H-blocks are the most recent thing you can come up with then I stand by my previous comment.
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After that the optics got better
No images get out
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This is the UK - our police are rather better behaved than their US counterparts. They are also not routinely armed which also helps.
OKay then, they didn't kill any Irish or Scots people.
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Be more precise.
To the extent they kill Scots, it's Scots who are ethnically Irish. Ethnic Scots-Scots have never had a problem with actual Police. They had some major problems with the British state, but there were no police on the island during the risings of '89, '19, or '45.
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Were the police attacked? No. Oh but you are a "libertarian" (a.k.a. doughy suburban white male) so you don't need cops. I forgot.
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>"Oh but you are a "libertarian" (a.k.a. doughy suburban white male) so you don't need cops. I forgot."
Your drivel gets really tiring. Perhaps a tiny percent of radical libertarians believe there shouldn't be police, military, and other important government services. By your methodology, I guess all "democrats" are ultra-left socialists/communists, who want to stop all free speech, obliterate private gun ownership by good people, want to ban anything that might remotely pose some theoretical "harm" to
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smart libertarians
That's an oxymoron right here. There are no smart libertarians.
What's the point of being libertarian (Score:2)
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>" With all due respect, at that point isn't that really just a Republican that wants to legalize weed?"
Republicans and Libertarians are both Conservative (small government with focus on freedom and personal liberty, and more constituionalist). So in that respect, they are very similar. There are some differences- Libertarians are less about "morality", so in that respect they are more like classical liberals. They also tend to be less interested in building or maintaining foreign influence (and thus,
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In case of Liberal, you apparently already noticed it, as indicated by adding "modern", but your definitions of both "Conservative" and "Liberal" applies only to the US, based on the current political realities (including the flawed majority voting and resulting two-party system) and historical changes until the 1960s, with little change since then. Neo-Liberals (which is what I as a European would understand as "modern" liberal) would be US "conservative" according to your definition.
They are essentially n
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As people entered the store, how did the police differentiate the hide-and-seekers from the regular shoppers?
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As people entered the store, how did the police differentiate the hide-and-seekers from the regular shoppers?
Just look for singles.
At the IKEA where I sometimes shop, nobody is there alone. It's husband & wife (of all genders) with or without kids, students who share an apartment or singles who bring a friend to give a second opinion.
But I don't think I've ever seen a person alone there. There's always a companion who is asked, "We what do you think?"
Re: Not sanctioned by the store (Score:2)
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As people entered the store, how did the police differentiate the hide-and-seekers from the regular shoppers?
They were the ones with their hands over their eyes, counting to 100.
Re: Not sanctioned by the store (Score:2)
Are you sure? (Score:3)
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And the police shut it down. Really, where’s the story in that?
There is a story in that, but not News For Nerds.
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Nope, no story in that. Now if it was a 3,000 person paint ball game at Ikea, that would have been a story.
Alternative IKEA Game . . . (Score:2)
I think a 3,000 person game of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" in an IKEA would be much more interesting.
3,000 blindfolded folks wandering around the store with a paper donkey tails and thumb tacks ( UK drawing pins) in their hands.
What . . . or even who . . . will end up being the donkey!?!?!?.
Hilariousness ensues!
Re: Alternative IKEA Game . . . (Score:1)
Re: Alternative IKEA Game . . . (Score:2)
Solution (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Store closes at n o'clock
2. Participants line up, pay a 10 euro fee for insurance, breakage, etc
3. Let the game begin
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"3000 people, 10 euros, that means I can trash 30 grand's worth of stuff!" x3000.
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2. The UK police are very good at seeking around on social media.
Recall what social media brand got on PRISM early?
3. Let the code begin to make some kind of secure communications network
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Re: Solution (Score:2)
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It's standard practice for a large group registering for an event to carry their own damage liability insurance. So if someone (or multiple people) in the group breaks things, the venue can be sure the insurance will pay for it even if the group itself can't. The problem is then shifted from the venue to the group - the group needs to qualify and pay for such insurance. Whether that raises their cost per participant above 10 Euros depends on the group, its history,
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Kind of logistically sensible. (Score:2)
Sure - most of the store would be fine.
But there's portions of the store that blend the line between warehouse and showroom, where heavier equipment can be operating moving heavy mixes of lumber, metal and piles of stacked stuff.
It's more than a few steps riskier than, say, a Walmart or most other big-box stores for folks scrambling for a place and trying to stay unseen.
As long as they weren't arresting folks - seems a decent interpretation of f the call to 'protect and serve', compared to lots of stories w
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Game begins in the parking lot. The cops and security are it. GO!
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Ah yes, that game variant is otherwise known as Black Friday.
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That makes sense. The more stupid players would just climb the shelves in the warehouse section [wordpress.com] and hide on pallets 6 meters (20 feet) off the ground. Other players could hurt themselves (and other potential customers) just running after each other. A warehouse is no playground. There is plenty of steel and cement you could crack your head on.
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Pretty much everyone on this site grew up with playgrounds where you could easily crack your head open. We're still here. Some didn't make it this far, but we have more people than we can sustain given our behavior, so that's well and good. The other children learned to be more careful.
Re: Kind of logistically sensible. (Score:2)
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If you win, you get meatballs.
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Pretty much everyone on this site grew up with playgrounds where you could easily crack your head open.
Many didn't grow up at all.
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Well of course (Score:2, Insightful)
You're supposed be a mindless consumer in a store, not to engage in social activities that generate no income for the store.
Consuming is the new fun. Don't these people know?
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100 people playing hide and seek is a social activity. 3000 is a health hazard, and no you do not engage in health hazards in a store.
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From TFS :
So... they were actually ok with it until it became dangerous. So much for your cynicism.
My cynicism, on the other hand, goes much deeper: I'm sure the reason they allowed it in the first place is because anything that gets people into the store boosts sales....
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but "out of hand" might mean having too much fun for autistic prudes who hate to see anyone having a better more enjoyable life than their pathetic one.
of course it was done for publicity and sales, so what? that's how it's done
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In this world, acting like an adult means dropping everything and spending all of one's effort on combating climate change.
I see precious few adults in the world.
Given that almost all of us are acting like children already, waiting around for someone more responsible to solve our problems, what difference does hide and seek make?
If the plan was to disrupt business somewhere important like a supermarket or an unemployment office, that would be childish. But Ikea is just selling disposable shit that leads mor
Attn: John Carmack (Score:4, Interesting)
IKEA Hide-N-Seek, Oculus Edition?
Re: Attn: John Carmack (Score:2)
Hide-and-seek-look (Score:1)
Re:Hide-and-seek-look (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: Hide-and-seek-look (Score:2)
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from the don't-stop-me-now dept (Score:2)
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So what, they should allow them forever? Rules change sometimes.
Wow! (Score:2)
"People are stopping everyone who 'looks like they are here for a game of hide and seek,'"
I'm curious, how do those people look like? 3 feet high and 7 years old?
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Funny)
Horn rimmed glasses, beard, white, with smartphone.
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I would have thought wearing clothing that blends in with Ikea furniture
bonus points for matching camouflage paint on face and hands
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Most Ikea furniture is white, so wearing white is about all the camo you'd want or need. Regardless of your skin color, it's going to show, so wear long sleeves and long pants and a hoodie.
100 sq ft per person isn't much of a game (Score:2)
Even if it it does involve those little sample rooms Ikea puts together.
I could see maybe 300 people and 300,000 sq ft, or even less.
IKEA sells furniture? (Score:2)
I thought they were an escape room company! Or why is it so hard to find the exit?
Re:IKEA sells furniture? (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, the sell 3D puzzles.
Why not try an indoor forest? (Score:2)
I think I might have a better venue to propose: a forest inside a stadium [msn.com]. While it is an art piece, hide and seek shouldn't do it any harm.
What do they mean by "out of hand"? (Score:2)
So they just ban the event entirely?
Or is there something else going on?
While Ikea is certainly free to have whatever policies it wants regarding the use of its property, the decision to outright ban the entire practice instead of kicking people out of the store who are causing trouble seems to tread dangerously close to infringing on the right to peaceably assemble.
I'm not excusing the troublemakers here, but I expec
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who are causing trouble seems to tread dangerously close to infringing on the right to peaceably assemble.
Wrong; Not even CLOSE to infringing on the right. The property owner of an IKEA store does not have to allow ANY assembly of people whether peaceful, or otherwise.
The only place where you can have an assembly without permission is on your own property.
You can also have assemblies on certain government-owned or "public" property designated for assemblies;
However, in general, a permit will be requir
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I only meant to draw the comparison to a right to peaceably assemble in theory... Obviously the property owner has every right to decide who may stay on their property, and to exclude people for any reason that they see fit.
My main point was that I can kind of understand the mindset behind wanting to use a place like Ikea for an activity like this... while I can completely appreciate that a retail outlet not really the proper place for that kind of activity, I can't really think of any other place that
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I only meant to draw the comparison to a right to peaceably assemble in theory...
No it's silly. Just because people can assemble peacefully doesn't mean it's safe to do so. Honestly 3000 additional customers in an IKEA store is just a liability lawsuit waiting to happen when someone gets injured. God forbid the place catches fire, it's hard enough to find your way out of IKEA as it is.
You mean: IKEA Shut Down 3,000-Person Game (Score:2)
The police did not shut the game down on their own volition.. IKEA choose to not allow the game on their property and leveraged
their own security teams WITH ASSISTANCE from the Police.
Property owners have the right to do that. Police did not shutdown the game: they were there to enforce the law and assist IKEA in preventing trespass against them by FB users attempting to have the event despite IKEA Not Agreeing or permitting the Event AND also IKEA having Policies against the activity.
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Labyrinth design (Score:3)
And the winner is.... (Score:1)