Capture the Flag - city rules

Capture the Flag, Game One, Kensington Market, July 26, 2005, Toronto, Canada. Game one of three, so far as I can tell from the newmindspace site. A site, if I may say so, worth seeing. A generous site, describing not only how to play Capture the Flag in the middle of a city, but also how to have a subway party, for example, or, yes, a giant pillow fight, and even a city-wide Easter Egg fortune cookie poetry event.

But I like Capture the Flag the best. Because, I guess, I like the game, the poetry of it, the metaphor - the whole "jail" thing, with the guarding and desperation and heroism and laughter. And I especially appreciate the junkyardness of the way they adapted the rules, how they've incorporated not only the city into their vision, but also the "affordances" of city life - maps, cellphones, access to public and private transportation. And I like even more than that thinking about all sheer, silly drama of it all unfolding against a cityscape, waking everyone in a half-mile radius, hobo and executive, shopper and tourist, to the possibility of fun.