One thousand, one hundred, twenty five players. 1125.

That's right. Halfway to completing this task. Just wait until next year...

This was the first year I wasn't in charge of the DC game, passing on to an esteemed colleague. Though I was certainly doing my best to help from the sidelines, the journey needs a local organizer to run it. And he did a fantastic job. As you may have noticed, this was the Largest Journey Ever. Over a thousand players! Let me take a minute and say that we've got a pretty great team in DC these days. Chris, in charge of the event this year, is a rock star. He's an all-around awesome guy. That's him on the right.



Brandon is our kick-ass designer. Eccoglyph and Fizzbang rock the creative -- they do amazing things every year, and I'm always impressed. And Bruce and Lindsey come from Capitol Improv, the Improv Everywhere spinoff that lives in DC. Justin and Marc are some of the scariest chasers I never hope to meet late one night. And those are just the main players -- there are a ton of other people now who love Survive DC and want to make sure it keeps happening. It's pretty awesome. I mean, check out this manifest:




Before I get started, let me also point out: this was how our lead chaser was dressed. You gotta love that shirt.



And this was one of our bike chasers.


(photo by Steve "FiZ" VanSickle)

We knew beforehand that this was going to be big. We'd purposely delayed it after schools were out for the summer, and underadvertised...but as the signups continued to come in, it was clear: we were going to break some records here. Extra ribbons were ordered, and then ordered again. Plans were revised, and revised again. And the numbers continued to come. The night before, we didn't know if we were going to be able to provide for everyone--there would be maps and ribbons for 1200, but the way we were going...would it be enough? We let everyone know that this would be first-come, first-serve, and they should make sure to come early if they wanted a ribbon. And so they did. While we knew beforehand that this was going to be big, it was another thing entirely to see it. The people filled Dupont Circle. The line for ribbons, three wide, went all the way out one spoke (that's it going out on the right)...



...around the outer circle (look in back)...



...and came back in another (see it coming back in on the left).



We had several fantastic-looking teams in evidence, as well.





When people had received their supplies, they filled the circle. DC regularly hosts some pretty enormous gatherings, but we were pretty impressed with our thousand players.



This gives a slightly better feel:


Though if you really want to see what the crowd looked like, check out this video.

At times it seemed like it would never happen, but eventually, the line was empty, and it was time to explain the rules...at which point, we discovered we had a broken megaphone. Even after a quick sprint to CVS for replacement batteries, we were out of luck. So Chris got up and shouted out to a thousand people: Here is how you play. Here is what you need to know. Seek the metro. Be discreet. Cops are safe. The world is dangerous; if you die in the game, you die in real life.



And so the night began. I didn't have a defined role, having been explicitly reserved for whatever was needed. So when one of our Good Player Fairies called in late, I grabbed a bunch of leftover blue ribbons, decked myself out, and became the Backup Good Player Fairy. I've been a runner, a staff chaser, an organizer (twice), a photographer, a checkpointer...but this was a role I hadn't yet tried.

And to be honest, I think it might be my favorite.

Checkpoint 1 was great -- I got there after the rush, but nearly everyone made it to the first checkpoint, where they found several stations for photographing: stick your head in here, take a picture, and voila! Instant Survive DC license!


(photo by Klea Scharberg)


(photo by Klea Scharberg)

You can see many more at Klea's flickr album.

I got my first taste of what my role meant between Checkpoints 1 and 2 -- I saw someone being chased, sprinted to catch up to them, and as they were being tagged, called out, "I am the Good Player Fairy! No Captures May Be Made Within 20 Feet of Me!"

"The what?"

In the confusion at the beginning, we may have neglected to mention good player fairies. But I explained, and the player said, "Wow, really! Thank you! You just made my night!" It was a really good feeling. I raced along with them for a block, then took off. Along the way, I saved several others. It was exhilarating. I had a purpose, I was doing good. I was a hero!

Checkpoint 2 was pirate themed, and people were quizzed on pirate knowledge before they could proceed. You can check out readysetdc's video of checkpoint 2 to hear some wonderful and terrible pirate jokes.



While there, I met up with the other Good Player Fairy currently on the field. A friend of mine and Eccoglyph's down from New York, who had brought her son along in a stroller. She needed some blue ribbons to make her role more clear to the players, who hadn't quite figured out what was going on with the Good Player Fairies. She would also be the most popular of the fairies, as she provided not only protection, but also provided water and chocolate from the depths of the stroller. As you can see, she looked fantastic (check out the wing and shiny silver hair!)



After a while of helping people into and out of Checkpoint 2, I decided to move on. Between Checkpoint 2 and 3, I began to figure out how to help people out of danger without making things too easy or taking them all the way to the next checkpoint. Some chasers were friends with uncultured players, and wanted to come along. I said they could come, but only if they took off their chaser ribbons and swore to be chasers nevermore -- my part to help control the chaser population. And I frequently wandered in wrong directions, sometimes looping, or going perpendicular from the ideal direction. Id talk about how I was probably going to skip the next checkpoint and go on to the next one. This took care of most people, who eventually peeled off. When needed, I would stop if there were no chasers in sight, and encourage people to go off on their own. And when needed, I would say farewell and simply take off.

Checkpoint 3 was players' favorite from the night. It certainly had the most impressive costuming, with Alice, a White Queen, a Red Queen, and a Mad Hatter. My photos don't really do them justice. Take a look at the fantastic writeup at readysetdc or check out another one from Steve "FiZ" VanSickle:


(photo by Steve "FiZ" VanSickle)

In order to proceed, they had to play flamingo croquet with the Red Queen, getting a vibrating hedgehog into a goal before being passed to the Hatter.



The Hatter would ask questions, like, "Can you name the capitals of all the states, in alphabetic order?" (to which one excellent response was, "...no, I don't think I can." "All right! Just wanted to know! Here you go!") or "Count up as high as you can, and then stop." (to which the best response was, "1...2...3...(shrug)" "That's it? (meaningful look)" "That's it." "All right! Here you go!")



While at checkpoint 3, I found two of the first players I had saved -- I was so glad to see they'd made it! It was so easy to feel protective of my players, and want them to do well.

By the time I made it to checkpoint 4, it was clear that player numbers were dwindling. I was in constant negotiation with the other player fairies (our late player fairy has shown up, and was helping players from place to place without a map!) and we even turned one of our staff chasers into the Terminator Chaser. (He would come up to groups of players, and simply say, "Come with me if you want to live." then guard them against other chasers. I believe John Connor was, at some point, identified.)



On the way there, I also found Team Rocket, a team who had become chasers by this point.



At checkpoint 4, players (and chasers) were being taught improv games, in front of the space where Washington Improv Theater holds most of its classes. (Blatant plug: I took a class from them, and it was one of the best things I ever did. Find their classes here.)

While there, I also saw two players I'd taken from Checkpoint 3, then finally pushed out the door to fly on their own...now chasers. It was kind of heartbreaking; while I knew I couldn't save everyone, it was hard to see these former runners in front of me, whom I could have taken all the way, but had abandoned to the dangerous wilds.

From here I went straight to the end, checkpoint 6, then back and forth to Checkpoint 5 a couple of times, finding players along the way. There were several plaintive cries from chasers, along the lines of, "Where were you when I got tagged?" I could not save them all.

Checkpoint 5 was "Where's Waldo"



Bruce was also collecting stories from players, which is one of the most powerful parts of Journey -- it is a game which lends itself to the creation of stories, of adventure and harrowing escapes. I look forward to seeing people's tales. While here, I also met the astonishingly prepared Bros For The Win team, which was several players strong at Checkpoint 5, and laid out a master plan for getting to 6, based on their recon team -- who had reported that all entrances had chasers along them, except the border with a construction site. "Does anyone have a problem hopping the fence?" No one did. They made it to the end.



On the way back, I provided protection and pizza to hungry players, but also felt bad for the chasers -- it's a terrible thing to have the thrill of the chase running through your blood, run down your prey...and have it taken away by a rule you didn't even know about. I'd hate to have that happen to me. So as much as I enjoyed saving people, I also came to regret taking the captures away from the chasers. When a good player fairy starts sympathizing with the chasers, it's time to retire for the night.

79 players had made it to the end, making this not only the largest Journey to the End of the Night, but also the most difficult to complete.

On final run sealed the game for me: while at the final checkpoint, we saw a player ran by, being chased by a chaser; she didn't know she had made it to the safe zone, and was in danger of running right out of it. Everyone shouted. With a cry, I took a pair of wings and dashed after them in an explosive run -- this was one last person I /would/ save. The person I'd been talking to had turned away, and didn't even realize I'd gone...until they turned back and saw me already halfway down the block. I'm happy to say that while I could not save them all, this player did make it to the end safely.

I really enjoyed saving people -- seeing someone being chased, and putting on the speed to catch up and call out, "I am the Good Player Fairy! No captures may be made within twenty feet of me!" I felt like Superman. And I think that's one of the best things that Journey can do -- make you feel powerful, superheroic. It's a powerful game, and gives all the players a powerful experience. Thank you.