largescale games

When I was thirteen or so I remember daydreaming about playing a big game of hide and seek, in the whole state, with cars. When I could drive, I thought, it would be fun to have friends who would play that. And I vaguely thought we could start in Espanola and end up meeting somewhere like Las Cruces, and report who had been found, or who had gotten there without being discovered.

Now I have kids, two of three of whom can drive, and they have played games involving moving around large areas. Kirby and friends played a game in Los Alamos that involved some people on foot who could cut across through parks and playgrounds, and some in cars with an aspect of catch (a passenger would get out and tag one if they saw one and that person would be in the car, or something). That sounded dangerous, but Los Alamos on a weekend is often a quiet place with little traffic.

This week my kids are playing a game of Killer. It's a role playing game with a book and a bunch of rules. I played one time, and did pretty well with a plate of poison chicken I sent to a party where several players would be. I had a note in the bottom, wrapped in plastic, informing them that any player who ate it was out. Got three that day. Died to one of Kirby's co-workers who had a star trek disk-shooting "phaser." She said "You're Kirby's mom, right?" and when I said I was, she "phasered" me.

This time I'm not a participant, but I am the backup bomb squad. They're not allowed to interrupt each other at work, so Kirby's phone message says if he doesn't answer, to call me. I had a call today. I don't actually have to go anywhere, just sort of declare a time it will take the bomb squad. This was an envelope under a doormat, sticking out a bit. The caller hadn't touched it, nor stepped on the doormat. He has two roommates also in the game. I told him to wait half an hour and then consider it disarmed, and if it was poison and not bomb, the bomb squad would've taken it away anyway. That didn't keep one of his roommates from stepping on it or opening it. I don't think they did.

Holly was eliminated this morning. I discovered her "killer," as I was leaving to drive 25 miles to buy eggs. I don't usually drive that far for eggs, but in keeping with the theme of this post it seems worth mentioning. I'm making pickled eggs and wanted to find small or peewee eggs. Only found medium, but it was a nice drive, and they're small enough. So as I walked out the door, a guy I've only recently met was unrolling crepe paper streamer around the house. I thought he was trying to get Marty, and was advising on Marty's scheduled return for lunch break but no, it was Holly. He knew he would lose points for Kirby being in the house too, but was willing.



I went by the store where Marty works to tell him that maybe he shouldn't go home for work, because there was paper around our house and if it was a bomb and he was the first to touch it... but he said "Paper? Really? Is it red or orange?"

"Yellow," I said, not knowing then that it was red around back.

"That's not a bomb. Someone was after Holly and set the house on fire."

Oh! Some bomb squad I am.

But the point is, this is the kind of game I fantasized about as a kid, only even better.

Last night Marty was miles from here, waiting in the bushes for his friend's girlfriend to come out of a workout class so he could shoot her with a Nerf gun. They all knew he had been there (the couple and another friend) but he moved the car and hid. He heard them talking about the fact that he seemed to have gone home. He was ready to spring out, with his two orange plastic guns and his ski mask, but headlights shone on him, and it was a police car. So he pulled the mask off, set the guns down, and by then she was in her car with the door closed and his opportunity had passed. The police didn't see him (or didn't stop and talk to him, anyway), but he certainly didn't want them to see him jump out of the bushes with a mask on and lunge toward a teenaged girl who was getting into a car after 10:00 at night.

Even though Holly's out of the game, she's still having fun because she designed and is helping maintain the webpage. Don't ask to be friends with it; it's just for the players. The pictures are all out front anyway, but it's attractive and that's to Holly's credit: http://www.myspace.com/killeralbuquerque
and you can see dramatic polaroid photos of my kids and maybe some others you know (for those who've visited here--Brett and Sadie are in there).

It's fun to hear the stories and see them plan so enthusiastically. It's nice that they included me, too.

P.S. The main photo on Kirby's myspace these days is not Kirby. It's the probably-very-nice boyfriend of some girl named Kirby who posted that picture of him holding a note saying "I love you Kirby" and ourKirby lifted him whole (well, that image of him).