Contact game concept

[Placid Dingo]

I threw this onto FB and my blog. Was wondering if anyone here would be keen on helping out with the design of cards etc, or on tweaking some ideas around.

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Contacts is a meatspace game where the key points of drama are built around the specific interactions between an individual and other people who are not originally involved in the game.

The aim of the game is to meet the demands of five cards, each offering specific instructions, within a given timeframe. While not explicitly competitive, the game can be won or lost.

Each card gives an instruction related to the identification and utilisation of a 'contact'. A contact is an individual who is not originally a player in the game, but may be asked to participate explicitly by helping the player meet goals.

An example card set may be as follows.

1. Identify a contact willing to travel and take them to a neighbouring city. Have them select a restaurant and take them out for dinner.

2. At this restaurant, identify a second contact, and have them reccomend you an activity or place worth spending time in.

3. At the place/activity reccomended by contact 2, find a contact willing to take you to a location of interest or importance to them. Go there.

4. Find a contact in or around this place who will escort you to a final destination, where you will have the opportunity to finish your game.

5. Check your watch! You have one hour only! Find a new contact and challenge them to a game. If you win, you win. If you lose or run out of time, you have lost the contact game.

There could be a time limit such as three months to complete the whole task, though the last three cards themselves hold more restrictive limits.

[Triple Zero]

about cards, Cramulus found this awesome print-on-demand custom playing cards site. I checked it out and they're very reasonably priced, too.

so,these "contacts" are just random people you find at these locations?

what's going on in the step 5? after you arrive at the "final destination" mentioned in step 4, the clock starts, and you have 60 minutes to find someone to play a game with you? any game? like rock/paper/scissors or checkers?

does your blog elaborate more on this concept? it sounds really cool. please to link us?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Although the concept is really neat, the "getting into cars with strangers" element leaves something to be desired.

[Placid Dingo]

I might get that off you Trip. I haven't elebourated further; this is the whole idea.

I see the stranger danger issue, and to be honest I hadn't even considered people getting into cars etc. I'll play around with ways to develop some kind of cautions without making things 'too safe'.

[Triple Zero]

What is safe and what isn't depends very heavily on where you are. For example, I was really surprised when I first heard of mitfahrgelegenheit.de, a very popular German website that many people use to carpool with complete strangers, splitting the cost of gas. Used mostly by students and commuters. People post when and where they are going, they post mobile phone number and/or email, and others can search for routes or destinations and directly contact them. I asked many of the people that travelled with us, or that I travelled with, if bad stuff ever happened, but the worst I heard was about people just being grumpy, or passengers that treat you like a chauffeur.

And indeed, like this game, it's a wonderful way of meeting interesting people. Additionally, the synchronicities and coincidences you find out about eachother are pretty cool. I think that's because you spend a few hours in the car together chatting about nothing in particular, but you often do have the same starting point and the same destination, so you're bound to have something unexpected in common (even if it's only realizing you're practically neighbours).



Anyway, my point is, when the above kind of trust is possible, in a safe enough environment or culture, the experiences and possibilities are absolutely beautiful.

However, if it isn't, and you judge it wrong, the consequences can be very bad.

But it would be a terrible waste to make the game safe for the lowest common denominator, since you're going to miss out on a lot of beautiful experiences.

Is there a way to combine both? I don't have that much experience with "stranger danger", perhaps some guidelines to decide whether a situation is "safe" or not?
Maybe to let people know if you're going somewhere with a stranger, and make sure the stranger knows that they know where you're going?



Also, Placid Dingo, could you answer my questions?

[Placid Dingo]

Oops, sorry, failed hard at answering your qs.

so,these "contacts" are just random people you find at these locations?

Yes. The first one doesn't have to be; it's kind of designed to provide an 'in' to the game that gives you an easier option than approaching strangers immediately. The later four are going to be random people, by virtue of having to be found within certain limits that would generally prevent you from choosing people you know.

what's going on in the step 5? after you arrive at the "final destination" mentioned in step 4, the clock starts, and you have 60 minutes to find someone to play a game with you? any game? like rock/paper/scissors or checkers?

Yep that's right on it. Any game. Though I'm thinking it might need to be more restrictive than r/p/s, flip a coin etc. This is meant to be a crecendo point because EVERYTHING should hang on you winning this game. Of course, one of the things I like about the concept is that it caters to people's veriations on how they want to play, and interpret the rules.

My blog doesn't elabourate but you see it at www.placiddingo.com. There's not a lot there that doesn't get a Xpost here, so there's not a lot new for PD Spags.

Looking through the cards 3 and 4 have a bit of a worry, especially four into five, because you're being taken by a stranger to a new location to meet a stranger to go to another unknown location. I do see that as a quite a potential issue. Either

Change these tasks?

Suggest people have a partner/watcher?

Develop check in system (contacts name, intended location posted on a site; though this is a bit weird for the contact I suspect.)

I like the idea of the site, and was similarly surprised when I saw Couchsurfing.

[Telarus]

I'd suggest the "pair-up" option.

1) you have a 'witness' who can take photos and stuff

2) you get to make up cool "Official [Placid Dingo's Game] Observer" name-tags that people get to wear (instant advertising + authority/arbiter meme on some-body's shirt). It's the player's job to get the tasks done, but the Observer can offer explanations to confused strangers, and hand out propaganda _after_ the player has inducted them as a PC.

[Placid Dingo]

I'd suggest the "pair-up" option.

1) you have a 'witness' who can take photos and stuff

2) you get to make up cool "Official [Placid Dingo's Game] Observer" name-tags that people get to wear (instant advertising + authority/arbiter meme on some-body's shirt). It's the player's job to get the tasks done, but the Observer can offer explanations to confused strangers, and hand out propaganda _after_ the player has inducted them as a PC.

I really like this yeah.

Will try to wrote up a little explanation Booklet or something.

[Triple Zero]

Good Idea!

The Observer also needs a clipboard and one of those headband things with green translucent plastic shades (what are they called again?), for appearance.

[Luna]

Good Idea!

The Observer also needs a clipboard and one of those headband things with green translucent plastic shades (what are they called again?), for appearance.

A visor?

[Placid Dingo]

Good Idea!

The Observer also needs a clipboard and one of those headband things with green translucent plastic shades (what are they called again?), for appearance.

A visor?

Ooh, I like it.

[Luna]

Good Idea!

The Observer also needs a clipboard and one of those headband things with green translucent plastic shades (what are they called again?), for appearance.

A visor?

Ooh, I like it.

They're cheap enough, look around, I imagine you could get 'em printed up with the game name on it, package it with the deluxe version of the game. 

[Placid Dingo]

Good Idea!

The Observer also needs a clipboard and one of those headband things with green translucent plastic shades (what are they called again?), for appearance.

A visor?

Ooh, I like it.

They're cheap enough, look around, I imagine you could get 'em printed up with the game name on it, package it with the deluxe version of the game.

Well the key thing is keeping it fun and a good concept. So that would be cool to set up, but ultimately I want this to be out there, rather than making monies; I have a job for monies already.

[Triple Zero]

True, but the Observer needs a visor and a clipboard to be able to play!!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Anyway, my point is, when the above kind of trust is possible, in a safe enough environment or culture, the experiences and possibilities are absolutely beautiful.

However, if it isn't, and you judge it wrong, the consequences can be very bad.

But it would be a terrible waste to make the game safe for the lowest common denominator, since you're going to miss out on a lot of beautiful experiences.

You mean, "women"?

I suppose that if female players simply ensured that they only made contact with other women, it would be fairly safe.