SFBART’s blog

BART has a bit part in a drama being played out this Saturday night in Oakland -- it's a free, somewhat-hard-to-describe street game called "Journey to the End of the Night" that combines elements of a foot race, a game of tag and a match of cunning and craftiness.

"Journey" was first played in San Francisco in 2006, the brainchild of three friends behind a loosely organized group known as the Playtime Antiboredom Society. "We thought it would be a good thing to do," says Sean Mahan, one of them. "It gets people away from screens, out of the house, exploring their city." The game has been run around a dozen times all over the world since then (it is shared under a Creative Commons license with no fees and no sponsors). On Saturday, June 20, it returns to the Bay Area.

The concept goes something like this: Players gather at a central starting point (Mosswood Park near the MacArthur BART Station) and get green ribbons that must be worn to identify them as a runner as they advance to six different checkpoints. For the first leg of the race, pre-selected volunteer "chasers" wearing orange ribbons try to tag the runners and collect their green ribbons. As runners get tagged, they also become chasers, switching to orange ribbons and trying to tag other players. The first runner to the finish line and the chaser with the most green ribbons are the winners, mostly for bragging rights and recognition among peers.

The location of the next checkpoint at each step along the way is kept secret until players reach the preceding checkpoint, adding to the mystery and intrigue of the game. Mahan says organizers put a lot of thought into choosing checkpoints that will give players new perspectives on different parts of the city. "We're really into urban exploration and trying to experience things in a new way, trying to break yourself out of the patterns of what routes you usually take through the city," he says. "The most important thing is to come up with really good checkpoints that have a really interesting feel to them ... that people wouldn't ordinarily find themselves at."

Public transit, including BART, is allowed for players to get to different checkpoints, and BART stations will be "safe zones" - players can't be tagged there. Regular BART ticket procedures, as well as all other BART rules, still apply to players traveling by BART. No cars, bikes, taxis, skateboards or other means of transportation are allowed. For the complete rules and other information about the game go to: http://journey.totheendofthenight.com/oakland

Safety is emphasized on the official game website and Mahan is aware that some people might have qualms about running around Oakland after dark; however, he says there haven't been serious safety problems at the game in other locations and he's hopeful it may even give people who haven't visited Oakland a better up-close-and-personal sense of the city's assets. Players must also sign a standard release and the event is geared for those 18 and older.

"It creates an intense personal experience with the city," says Mahan, who moved to the Bay Area about four years ago. "One thing I really miss about when I first moved here is that when you live in a new place, you pay attention to everything. You have to really be aware of where you are, you don't understand intuitively how one place is connected to another. Journey, when it works well, puts people in that mode, where they're experiencing it as if they're seeing it for the first time."