After having run in Vienna, and having been caught in Budapest, the logical third is to organize a Journey. Together with the fellow sf0 members riot (aka the argency), lyx and many other great people we have been doing just that. In Berlin. In May.

I apologize in advance to anyone who enjoyed my narrative after the other Journeys. This praxis feels so much more like a continuous piece of work than a single event, and I have no clue how to translate that into a single short story. It was amazing. I would do it again. Soon.

Contributions

I designed the logo, flyers, stickers...

..and printed the trophies in translucent 3D.

We (lyx and me) were also the ones chasing you around from the very beginning.

The event

I flew to Berlin to meet my fellow creature of the night, lyx. Lack of coordination made us take a taxi to the start point to deploy supplies, while the rest of the crew was meeting and preparing in the c-base space station.


Soon after us (and the telltale sign we set up), people started gathering, and we were greeted by a local TV station and a radio crew. We left the initiations to Vortex, ninin and riot and headed for the strategic points.

For reference and perusal:

• My own map
  
• Marenz' map (one of the runners who has taken the time to create a map! woo!)
  

Start: Tiergarten park. (known for hosting the Victory column, the Reichstag and the Love parade)

I was mostly trolling the bridge on the largest and most direct path towards checkpoint one, scaring away most of the yet careless and unsuspecting runners. Some daredevils risked an early death and made it through. At the same time, lyx was patrolling the forests of Tiergarten park, helping one unfortunate runner to untangle her jacket from a bush, and catching two who completely refused to run.

Checkpoint 1: Zellengefängnis Lehrter Straße. (a 19th century Prussian prison complex, famous for being as humane as to allow singular confinement and access to tiny open courtyards)

Lyx chased gaggles of runners through the futuristic main station of Berlin, only getting hold of one. I took the shortcut to the Brandenburg gate where one runner was taken down.

Checkpoint 2: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. (a 19000m² areal of concrete slabs)

the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason

I skipped the safe zone and patrolled along Unter den Linden. I did not meet with lyx until safe zone three. The streets were witness to several prolonged chases. One runner was unsuspectingly following behind me, and only started running as I turned around with the monogoggles on my head and the light beam pointed at his chest. I managed to separate another two, chasing one for several blocks. A third group fled into the bus and did not dare to leave it in front of the safe zone. I had fun.

Checkpoint 3: Castle place, home of the former Berlin City Castle.

At this point of the game, I was ahead of all runners. I met with the safe zone agents, and witnessed the first two runners trickling in. I also met with lyx and discussed our further strategy. She would be guarding the choke points towards zone four, while I was roaming more freely. I first guarded a radial road towards the safe zone, with a very close contact: The runner got away with a scream and a sprint as I was almost touching his shirt. These are probably the best parts of the game, playing with the prey and exhausting them for the others.

I then moved on to a tram station on the remote corner of the safe zone. Two times, runners emerged from the wagons, unaware of me studying the contents of the rolling fish tank. I convinced the first two friends to play a game of stone, scissors, paper to decide which one would be dead. Apparently there had been a one-catch-only rule announced at the start. So be it. The remaining hand full of runners was first too scared to exit the wagon, but then decided to run for it.



By the time the second train arrived, ten minutes later, there were five chasers patrolling the crossing towards safe zone four. I merely had to scare the runners in the right direction, where they met their certain demise.

Checkpoint 4: Fleischerei café

I skipped checkpoint five, instead heading directly towards safe zone six with a beer and my newly found chaser friend that lost at the stone and scissors. Lyx, now illuminated, patrolled around safe zone five.



Checkpoint 5: Wasserturm Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin's oldest water tower.

Reaching safe zone six, I met with the TV crew for a short interview, and so many chasers that I decided to take it easy. At this point in time, one runner had made it through safe zone six, five passed safe zone five, and about thirty had passed safe zone four. I caught another one out of three that tried to disembark from a tram one stop after the safe zone, where they had already spotted the chasers guarding the station.

Checkpoint 6: Mauerpark Berlin, a stretch of green, formerly the Death Strip of the Berlin wall, now home to multicultural flea markets and gleeful Workers' Day riots.

I then agreed with lyx to meet in the dark back alleys behind safe zone six and head towards the final destination. Since I actually meant to scare more than catch, I turned on my headlight more permanently. Still, strangely enough, while the other chasers commented on my way to good visibility, runners kept walking towards me, only to become aware of me in the very last moment. I chased one of them into a backyard, where he later told me he would have climbed the fences had I decided to follow through.

Eventually, I met again with lyx, and headed towards the dark forest surrounding

Checkpoint X: the Humboldthain Bunker, one of four former flak bunkers guarding the airspace above Berlin. This one was too deeply connected with the neighbouring rail systems to be demolished with explosives.

A bagpiper served as sonic beacon for the final safe zone.


More impressions from the Journey in the pictures, and below.

• Radio broadcast
  
• even more pictures (by SvenG)