Stalker

Stalker
Designer:	Arsène van de Bilt Cindy van den Broek Cyril Brugman Jeroen Jooren
Year:	unknown
Players:	Teams should be around 3-7 players, teams always need to have the same amount of players.
Stuff required:	Items to identify the players, silly hats/poncho's.
Crew required:	1 referee per player.
Preparation:	Couple of minutes defining the starting/ending points.
Time required:	Depending on the distance between the starting and ending points for the teams and how crowded the streets are.
Place required:	Very crowded public place, like a shopping district.
Activities:	Walking, Stalking and Being Sneaky.
This is a playable game - it's finished, tested and ready to play.
This game is made available under an Attribution-Noncommercial Creative Commons licence. (What does this mean?)

There are 2 or more teams with an even amount of players that try to arrive as fast as possible at a determined point by stalking pedestrians.

Origin

Stalker was designed by a group of students during the week long 'Winter Academy' held by the HKU. A group of students was formed from Design for Virtual Theatre and Games, Gamedesign and Development, Game Art and Interaction Design students. During this week pitches, play-tests and a final presentation had to be done/given. This game is therefore fully play-tested.

Rules

The teams should exist of 3-7 players with an even amount of players per team. There must be 1 referee per player. Before the game starts, the referees and players have to decide from where they will start the game and what the 'finish' is. The team from which all of its members arrive the fastest at the determined finish, win. All players must start from the same point, not more than 2-3 meters from the central point away. Only one player is allowed to follow one pedestrian, he isn't allowed to run and he may only follow the pedestrian if he/she is within an arm's reach. The player is never allowed to leave the public space and enter a shop/private property. The player must wait outside of the private property and wait for a new pedestrian to follow.

Other players can steal a pedestrian a player is following, by (softly) bumping into the player. The player must then stop following the pedestrian.

Whenever a player is unable to follow a pedestrian, either because the pedestrian enters private property, catches the player stalking him/her or because the pedestrian is stolen from him, he must stand still and follow the first pedestrian that walks by in range. Players aren't allowed to just stop following a pedestrian if he/she is going in the wrong way, he may only walk into another direction if a different pedestrian comes within reach.

Referee

The Referee knows 2 signs.

• Getting Closer, the referee points his index finger towards his opened hand.

Meaning the player should get closer towards the pedestrian he is stalking.

• Stop, the referee shakes his hands over each other.

Meaning the player has to stop stalking the pedestrian, used when the player isn't playing by the rules.

Requirements

Silly hats, ponchos or other items that can be used to make it easier for the referees to follow players. And making it less intimidating for the pedestrians which are being stalked. All teams should have an unique item for their team, so they can be easily separated.

Videos

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Stalker being played in Utrecht, January 2010.