Schniper

From Ludocity
Schniper
Sniper.jpg
Designer: Kevan Davis
Year: unknown
Players: 2
Stuff required: Walkie-talkies (but mobile phones will do); optional ribbons or other identifiers.
Crew required: None
Preparation: None
Time required: 30 minutes
Place required: A large area with plenty of cover.
Activities: Sneaking, hiding.
This is a playable game - it's finished, tested and ready to play.
Cc-by-nc.png
This game is made available under an Attribution-Noncommercial Creative Commons licence. (What does this mean?)

A two-player game of sneaking and sniping, using walkie-talkies or mobile phones.

Gameplay

Pick a playing area. You want a large, clearly-defined area with plenty of cover to break things up - a park can be good, or an agreed area of urban environment.

Each player has a walkie talkie tuned to the same frequency (or simply a mobile phone, after exchanging numbers). If you're playing against someone you might not recognise at a distance, then you should both wear a ribbon or some other distinguishing item of clothing. Pick a start and end time for the game, and disperse into the playing area - the game shouldn't start until both players have had a few minutes to split up.

Once the game has started, each player attempts to hunt down the other, trying to catch them in the open while concealing their own position. At any time, one player (the "sniper") may call the other (the "target") on the walkie talkie to say "Stop! I can see you!", or words to that effect. Both players have to stand perfectly still, and can engage in a little Bourne-style banter to confirm that the sniper really can see the target ("I hope you're enjoying that cup of coffee, as it may be your last").

Once confirmed, the target is "shot" and immediately loses a life, and the sniper has to spend the next thirty seconds reloading - the sniper is allowed to duck behind cover to do this, but cannot move more than a couple of feet (if a sniper is caught moving within thirty seconds of a shot, they immediately lose the game). It's up to the target whether they look around and try to shoot back, or make a run for it.

Each player starts with three lives; when you've lost your third life, the other player wins. If you're both still alive when the game ends, then the player with the most lives left wins.

Variants

Although designed and tested with two players, it should stretch to three or four on the same frequency - the other players might get to hear dialogue between two of the others, but it'd be a clue that someone was around. It probably doesn't scale beyond four players, but it's trivial to split the group into multiple pairs (each pair with its own ribbon colour), and have each player trailing just one other; maybe even teaming up with a differently-coloured assassin if they meet them on the streets.

Play history

  • Schniper was playtested in Regent's Park, London, in June 2009.