Moscow news
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20-Aug-2009
Quest for adventure
Jumping into a car in the middle of the night and driving around the city in search of a series of clues seems to be fun for thousands of people, according to local organisers of urban night games, some of which have an international network.
"About 100,000 people are playing different types of urban night games," Maria Tsareva, a Moscow organizer for the DozoR game, said in an e-mail interview. "There is a turnover, some people leave and new ones join, so about 500,000 people worldwide have played [since the early 2000s]."
According to the web site of DozoR - no relation to the popular novel and film "Nochnoi Dozor" or "Night Watch" - the game is played all over Russia, from Kaliningrad to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as well as in some cities in Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Estonia and, surprisingly, Dubai. The organisers describe the game as "a mind-blowing and adrenalin-rushing" hybrid of the Soviet-era quasi-military game Zarnitsa, the French game show "Fort Boyard" and the Russian intellectual game show "Chto? Gde? Kogda?"
The goal of a DozoR game, which runs as a contest between several teams from 10 pm on a Saturday to 7 am on a Sunday, is to find places in the city based on clues received via the Internet. Besides cars, teams are equipped with maps, flashlights, mobile phones, notebook computers and Internet access.
The size of teams is not limited - one team playing DozoR had about 100 people - and members play specific roles: Every team has a captain, drivers, fieldworkers who implement tasks and a control center whose members are connected to the Internet and brainstorm about the tasks.
In each game, teams gradually move from level one to level 10. At each level, teams receive a "task", or a cryptic message hinting at a place in the city where they can find a code consisting of numbers and letters. For instance, the task "Six buns are hidden under a bridge" might mean that the code is hidden under a bridge next to bakery No. 6. Once found, a code is to be entered in a form on the game's web site. A team that completes all the levels first becomes the winner.
Games have three levels of danger, indicated in the task. Level 1 means that the code is located in an easily accessible place, level 2 hints that some physical efforts will be required for finding the code, and level 3 indicates potential danger in finding the code. Places marked as "danger code 3" could be, for instance, roofs, attics, abandoned buildings and basements.
After nine months' playing, participants can design their own games, under the strict control of organisers who insist that their suggestions "are not to be discussed". Designing a game is a difficult and time-consuming process, so organisers suggest that work on designing a game should begin at least a month prior to its tentative date.
Other games similar to DozoR are played under different names, including Quest, Auto-Quest, Night City and Skhvatka. The web site of the project Encounter, which unites fans of different urban night games, claims that the first game of this kind in the former Soviet Union was Skhvatka, or Combat, in Minsk back in 2001. Participation is not free, with entry fees ranging from 1,000 roubles to 5,000 roubles per team per game. Reasons why people join the game vary.
"The top reason is socialising and company," said Tsareva. "Players are a separate community where everyone knows everyone else, where you can always get help, find new friends, love or just company. I also met my future husband that way."
She added that other factors prompting people to join are "drive and adrenaline" and "competitiveness".
"Most people, just like any living organisms on the planet, are focused on their own survival," Ivan Maslyukov, one of the pioneers of Skhvatka, said in an e-mail interview. "But there are people who don't want to just survive, they want to live boldly, dangerously, energetically, and they are always looking for adventure."
Players come from diverse backgrounds.
"We have university students, top managers, IT specialists, policemen, teachers, construction workers and lawyers," Tsareva said. "The minimum age is 18, and the oldest players are pensioners. In one city, a 78-year-old woman, the chief doctor of the city, played. But normally, players are between 25 and 35."
"When we talk about players, we don't talk about their age or profession," said Maslyukov. "We talk about people with a strong desire to live. Material wealth, profession and age are irrelevant."
Participants need to be aware of the potential dangers. In mid-July, two players in the Central Russian city of Lipetsk died of suffocation in a sewage collector, RIA Novosti reported. According to the report, the two young men, 20 and 26 years old, had entered the collector looking for a clue.
While participants normally sign a disclaimer stating that they assume responsibility for any possible risks, organisers insist that injuries or deaths of players are very rare, as long as rules are observed.
"There have been fatal outcomes," said Maslyukov, adding that the casualty rate doesn't exceed that of average people's accidental deaths.
"Participation in games is safe as long as players observe traffic rules, don't consume alcohol, use safety equipment and follow organisers' directions," Tsareva said. "But, most importantly, they should realise that their lives and health are more important than the game's outcome."
She added that players who forget about their own safety, trying to outperform competitors, sometimes do get injured. "But I don't think it is as common as in extreme sports," she said.
Popular urban night games sites:
Dozor: www.dzzzr.ru
Skhvatka: www.cxmoscow.ru
Encounter (an international network for active urban games, including Skhvatka, PhotoExtreme, PhotoHunt, GeoCaching and WetWars): www.en.cx
The Moscow News