Edge Online - July 18, 2005
While Alternative Reality Gaming is most famously taking the core principles of mystery and adventure gaming and applying them to real life, another form of transposing gaming principles to the streets is occurring in the world of arcades. Pac Manhattan came to some fame for its manic real-life chases around the streets of New York, as be-costumed players took advantage of the city’s block structure. This year it’s all about Live Action Scotland Yard.
Nestled somewhere between a first person shooter and hide and seek, a ‘Mr X’ dresses in a bright yellow t-shirt, and then takes to the public transport systems of Toronto, Canada, pursued by three more people, ‘detectives’, in red shirts. The game, created by Canadian designer Joel Friesen, requires the ‘criminal’ to give clues to those chasing every third stop he makes. Every three stops is a turn, and at the beginning of each turn he must phone in which three methods of transport he will use for his next three stops. Every other turn, he is required to report his location. Both sides are coordinated by remote ‘dispatchers’ who attempt to supply information as to where the opposing team might be, trying to catch or evade one another within the game’s time limit.
