How to play a real-life chase game in your city
A city chase game turns your streets into the board: runners get a head start, chasers hunt them with timed location reveals. Here is how one game works from start to finish.
A real-life chase game is hide and seek grown up. One side runs, the other side hunts, and the whole city is the playing field. Phones keep the game fair: nobody has to argue about who was where.
The two sides
Runners play in small teams, usually pairs. Their job is simple: stay free until the clock runs out. Chasers work together to find them and catch them by touch.
How a game runs
- Everyone meets at a starting point and joins the game with a six-letter code.
- The game starts and runners get a head start, 45 minutes in the classic rules. Chasers have to wait.
- When the head start ends, the chasers' map unlocks. Every 15 minutes they see each runner team's exact position for two minutes, then the map goes dark again.
- A team that leaves the game area becomes visible to the chasers, so there is no escaping to the next town.
- A chaser who touches a runner gets that team's secret code. Entering it confirms the catch for everyone.
What makes it exciting
The reveals are the heart of the game. Runners know exactly when the next one comes, so the minutes before it are a scramble: do you keep moving, hide in a crowd, or jump on a tram? Chasers get a fresh lead every time, but a two-minute-old position in a city goes stale fast.
What you need
At least four people, a phone each, and a few hours. Six to twelve players is the sweet spot: two or three chasers and several runner teams. Pick an area you all know, agree on the rules, and go.