
Group of Men Have Played Game of Tag for 23 Years - bmj1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323375204578269991660836834.html#project%3DTagParticipationB%26articleTabs%3Darticle
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lisper
When I was in high school (when punch cards and Commodore PETs roamed the
earth) the game was called Assassin and was played with dart guns. I played
for a month, and it was one of the most stressful times of my life. I
eventually got whacked by my then-girlfriend as I was walking between classes.

One of the interesting twists to Assassin was was that you weren't allowed to
have witnesses to your "crime", which meant you could relax when there were
other people around. But it also made it easy to become complacent, which is
how I met my fate.

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CoffeeDregs
Totally. We played Assassin with platic-disc guns (which I can't find on
Amazon) in high school. The school came down on us pretty hard if we were
caught playing, so it was doubly stressful avoiding getting whacked by friends
_and_ avoiding being caught by faculty. We also had an entrance fee of $5, so
the winner took home $100-$200 for surviving.

I never survived.

In general, though, the idea of adding a little game to _anything_ is pretty
nice. You can imagine playing tag at CES or assassin at PyCon. Hell, it's be
great if the organizers added/encouraged/managed it!

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erock
wow, that brought back some memories, it's all fun and games, until someone
puts a penny in their gun. Anyway they were called tracer guns, and it doesn't
look like they are made any more <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_gun>

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piotrj
How about NERF guns? <http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/en_US/vortex.cfm> Those
vortex type ones have disc ammo. You can buy them on Amazon.

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andrewflnr
I'd rather do it with a jolt pistol. The discs have a long range, but they're
terribly inaccurate and slow. The single dart fired by a dart is slow to
reload, but fairly accurate and fast, perfect for assassinations.

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olalonde
Would make a good movie plot for a Hollywood bromance style comedy.

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officemonkey
Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, the Wilson brothers, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, and
Seth Rogan.

We could call it "The Magnificent Seven Play Tag."

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orangethirty
I would watch that.

But title it:

 _Tagbros._

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knowtheory
Don't forget to check out the contract that they drafted up:
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732337520457826...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323375204578269991660836834.html#project%3DTagParticipationB%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive)

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mhb
_A valid tag occurs whenever (subject to Article II below) It intentionally
causes his hand (right or left) to come into contact with the body or clothing
of any other Participant_

So the clothing doesn't need to be on the tagged person...

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sageikosa
My family members used to (some still sort of do) play a game called "got you
last", wherein each player has a set of relationships with every other player,
and the idea is to get everyone else last (adjudicated like tag), without
anyone having gotten you last.

You need to keep track of whom you need to get last, and who might be trying
to get you last.

An uncle and a cousin of mine have been going back and forth for about 30
years.

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eksith
Part of me felt this was silly... Another part (a secret part) felt very,
very, very, _very_ envious. How come the rest of us don't have games like this
we can play, potentially, for the rest of our lives?

It would be a whole lot more interesting than "sup bro?" at a reunion.

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personlurking
Used to know a slightly odd, hyperactive kid in high school who used to
randomly 'head-tap' my friends and I on the shoulder (with his forehead).
Every once in a while we turned it into a bit of a game where you tried not to
let the other head tap your shoulder. It's basically tag but arms-free (or
maybe 'thumb wars' works as an analogy, for its dodgy nature)...and you can
only give chase or escape by walking fast, no running.

Coincidentally or not, we were also ultimate frisbee players in middle school.
And there were pogs, of course.

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josscrowcroft
I wonder who the very last will be? Kind of a sad thought but it's gotta
happen some day..

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dwoldrich
My coworker told a vivid story of playing "Jurassic Park", where he and other
men in the dorm would get blitzed, remove their shirts, duct tape their
forearms to their upper arms, and pretend to be velociraptors in a dominance
battle.

With their arms and hands practically useless, they could only bite and kick
each other. Apparently people would get bit pretty good.

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jwmoz
For months me and my housemates would hide a crumpet in each others cupboards
and food items. I'd buried deep in my mates doritos, it had been in granola,
in massive packs of protein. I ended up throwing it away after i'd found one
of them had expertly hidden it in my tub of hummus. Bastards.

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hello_newman
I think it's pretty cool how after 23 years a group of guys who were friends
in high school each went on to be a CMO, a lawyer, a H.S. teacher and a
priest, respectfully, and still stay in touch and have a way to have fun.

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NamTaf
The fact that each year, 'It' gets to make a donation on behalf of all of them
towards their Alumni just makes it for me :) That was an awesome read!

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oboizt
This is adorable. It always makes my day to read about the creative things
people do with friends.

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joelrunyon
This was posted almost a week ago -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5135883>

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mercuryrising
The title on this one is better without context.

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scoot
Yes, although it needs a '(sic)' for the poor grammar in the original; I
thought the submitter had made the mistake until I clicked through to the
article.

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gruseom
If you mean the "have", that's not poor grammar – it's correct, though more
common in Britain than in the U.S.

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berlinbrown
Rubicon story come to life.

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tomhschmidt
Haha! Business!

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NicoJuicy
Most awesome story like, ever :-D

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heydenberk
"Men" is a stretch.

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arbitrage
Why do you say that?

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mberning
Fanciful embellishment on the part of those involved. It's impressive what
some will do to 'get their name out there'. I guess when you make a career of
it some will spill over into your personal life.

