A Big Bag Full Of Squash

…left on a friend’s doorstep

The Doclopedia #2,566

Grab Bag!…: City Escape

On Earth 1-L, a popular live action roleplaying game is City Escape, in which a group of 3 to 6 people try to get out of a pre-designated area of a city without being caught by the Hunters.. Such areas are never smaller than a 9 X 9 block area, and often much larger. The play time can vary, but is most often sun up to sundown.

Rules can vary depending upon the city, and the degree to which the local police tolerate LARPS, but a few rules are universal.

1: All participants must wear brightly colored clothing with Escapees wearing one color and Hunters wearing another. Additionally, Escapees each wear a large two digit number in their backs and chests. At no time can these be covered by other clothing or removed.

2: There can never be less than 2 Hunters per Escapee, nor more than 6.

3: While Escapees may remain in a group or divide as they see fit, Hunters must break into small groups of the same number as there are Escapees. Therefore, 20 Hunters searching for 4 Escapees would form 5 Teams. Note that teams can vary in size, so long as there are at least 2 per team.

4: At the designated start time, all Hunters must remain for 10 minutes in an area where they cannot see the Escapees as they leave. Often, this will be in a restaurant or some shop.

5: No form of motorized transport is allowed by anyone. However, different games may allow the use of bicycles, skateboards, roller scates, or other non-motorized devices.

6: No weapons of any type are allowed. Physical interaction between Hunters and Escapees is not allowed. Tracking dogs are not allowed.

7: Asking non-players for information is allowed, as is requesting them to give false info to Hunters.

8: Simply hiding and waiting is not allowed for Escapees.

9: In instances where a city has a beach, be it ocean or Great Lake, standing in the water a few feet offshore counts as an escape.

10: If a Hunter gets within 100 feet of an Escapee and calls out “Escapee #XX, you are captured!”, that escapee is out of the game.

11: If even so much as one Escapee escapes, it is a win, with that team getting 10 points. All Escapees getting out of the city is worth 10 X Escapees points. Likewise, each captured Escapee is worth the same amount of points to the Hunter team.

The largest City Escape game takes place in July in a North American city. Upwards of 300 people might play and afterward, there is always a banquet and party.