Doppelganger
| Doppelganger | |
|---|---|
| |
| Designer: | Neil Puttick, Jess Robins, Lydia Coen Mason, IDST!, Jake Psy Ence, Leah Marks, Andrew Gillan |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | 10+ people (in an even number) |
| Stuff required: | masks (stiff paper, elasticbands, stapler, headshots) body parts (locally sourced - card) wedding attire |
| Crew required: | 2 (+1 Bridezilla +4 Bridesmaids optional). |
| Preparation: | 3 hours. |
| Time required: | An hour, plus ten minutes for scoring. |
| Place required: | A Park or Square. |
| Activities: | lampooning, chasing, hunting, identity theft game. |
| This is a tested game. It's been tested in real life, but needs a bit more polishing before it's fully playable. | |
 | |
It’s the day of the wedding and the groom has gone to pieces (literally). You’re gonna have to put him back together. But wait. You're not yourself today either - in fact you are someone else. First discover yourself to get your invite to the wedding and then in teams put the groom back together to save the big day.
Preparation
Get a headshot image of all the players. Print and cut these out (approx. A4 per mask) to make a mask. Here, we have included a universal template, which you can layer over the faces, to cut out. In addition, you need three defining traits from each player. These are then printed and stuck (or written) on the underside of the mask. These defining traits are then also made into signs carried by players. The players have to find the people carrying each of their defining traits too and exchange them.
Make a model of the groom, then split it into parts (arms, legs, head etc.) to be distributed around the game space. We made a cardboard cut-out figure.
Put one mask and three trait signs into an envelope. Each player will receive an envelope at the beginning (it is important that they do not get their own mask or their own defining traits). Each player will wear one mask and have three traits to be displayed on their body.
Split the players’ envelopes up so that they are in two/four teams. These teams must find all the pieces of the groom to put him back together. Make sure that people in the same teams don’t have each other’s masks. A table or spreadsheet with names will help you divide the teams up appropriately.
Print the instructions, placing the starter instructions on one side of the envelope and player instructions on the other.
Split up the groom’s body parts and distribute them around the space (in the games we’ve played Bridezilla and the bridesmaids have body parts. The team have a dare they must complete to get all the body parts)
To Start
Participants are each given an envelope and are sent in their teams to destinations in the corners of the game space. Once there, they can read their instructions: they are asked to put their masks on and to begin looking for themselves:
starter instructions (on one side of the envelope): Put your mask on – you are not yourself. You are someone else. There are three cards with character traits on them. Display these on your person: someone will want to come and exchange them. Someone will eventually come up to you and ask for their face back. Only give it to them when they tell you their defining traits (written on the back).
Player Instructions
(on one side of the envelope)
Part 1: Find yourself and get your face back by telling the person, who has stolen it, your three true defining traits. Part 2: With your team, complete dares to get all the pieces of the groom.
The winners are the first team who are all themselves and have a completed groom.
Part 1 - Find Yourself
First things first, you've got to find yourself and swap faces...A player on another team is wearing your face and being you...you can't go to the wedding if you're not yourself.. In teams, head out into the city to find your face. Find the person and tell them your story to get your face back.
Look for cards to see if you can find your defining traits– hopefully these will lead you to yourself. You can only get your face back when you correctly confess all your traits.
Find yourself quickly! Who knows what the person pretending to be you will do while they are you!
When all your team find themselves you can move onto Part 2...
Part 2 - Put Bosch Back Together [Bosch is the name we’ve given the groom - You can change this.]
Bosch is in pieces about his wedding – He is a pale shadow of himself
You must find the missing pieces.
When all 5 of your team members have found themselves go to Bridezilla - a horrible creature Bosch has created in his nervousness. She keeps shadows of the former Bosch on her person. Say something nice to her and she will give you a shadow of Bosch.
In teams search for the bridesmaids. Each bridesmaid will ask you to complete a dare. If you complete it, they will give you a piece of Bosch to cover over his former shadow. Find them on the map and get the pieces of Bosch to put him back together again, otherwise the marriage will be off!
Get all the pieces to make a complete Bosch.
Variants
‘doppelganger’ combines two game mechanisms; one where individuals must enter into dialogues to get themselves and their traits back, and a team game hunt for missing body parts. In one variant, our world was the groom’s brain. We used a tunnel through which competitors have to climb to get in and out of the brain.
In one variant, players’ masks were double-sided, so that when they found themselves, they turned into the groom character ‘Anonymous Bosch’ and began to populate the world with the same character.
In another game, we used ‘Bridezilla’ as a chaser trying to get bits of Hubby back from the players, adding the chasing element to speed up transactions and activity.
Play History
- Mina Rd. Park, St. Werburghs, Bristol circa. June 2011
- College Green, Bristol circa. July 2011
- Queen’s Square, Bristol (with IDST!) Aug 2011
Masks
- Here are the mask template and instructions for a test game we ran
