chase or be chased
The rules of the game:
There are six checkpoints scattered around Brooklyn and Manhattan. The first person to get through all six checkpoints without getting caught wins. You may not use bicycles, cars, or taxis to travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, but you can use public transportation or walk. Game participants must wear a white ribbon. Chasers must wear a red ribbon. If a participant gets tagged by a chaser, he or she becomes a chaser as well.
The game, titled Journey to the End of the Night, was part of Conflux, a psychogeography festival in Brooklyn, New York.
I played Journey to the End of the Night and had blast! While I was playing, I felt like I was part of a secret society. Only sixty people out of the city’s 8.1 million played the game, which is 0.00000741% of the city’s population. But 8.1 million is only 0.00125% of world’s population, which is over 6.5 billion. Furthermore, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in year 2042, the world’s population will reach 9 billion. 9 billion is a large number, but it is not as large as 8.1 nonillion, which is the number of pixels at the Deep Sky Frontier. I like thinking about really large numbers; perhaps that’s why I am a math major. I also like to solve problems; that too could be why I am a math major. Right now I have a problem: I can’t figure out how to connect this discussion about really large numbers back to my initial discussion about Journey to the End of the Night.
How about this for a connection? If you would like to be part of that 0.00000741% that played the game this past weekend, you can! The game will be played again next weekend at the Come Out and Play urban games festival.