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Start Time: Sunday 3 PM
Starting Location: Sara D Roosevelt Park by the basketball courts at the corner of Houston St and Forsyth St
# of players: 12-60
Duration: 1-2 hours
URL: http://www.bikefriendlycity.com/
Designers: Catherine Herdlick
Part scavenger hunt, part guerilla art, and part bike race, Bike Friendly City is a game that arms teams with spray chalk and stencils to defend and create a pimped-out biker-friendly city. Play in the bike lanes and explore the streets in ways only an urban biker can appreciate!
The games was inspired by a passion for urban cycling and frustration with things that make that activity scary for the less adventurous. Run three times in 2007, the game has brought together individuals from different bicycle sub-cultures to play nice in our lanes (in a safe way!).
Bike Friendly City is an urban street game that invites you to playfully explore existing bike lanes and imagine what our city would be like
if we had more of them!
Goal
Teams of players compete to get the most points before time runs out. Points are earned by getting codes from city bike lanes and building
new bike lanes on designated blocks. Bike Lanes' points are defended by teams by "pimping" the bike lanes with stencils and spray chalk,
effectively covering up the codes so that other teams can't get and use them too
What Goes on During a BFC Game
(1) Break into teams
(2) Go through rules and starting pimpable bike lanes, distribute starter chalk and stencils, set finish time, synchronize watches, etc. Here's the map from the 10/13 game, with 5 starting pimpable bike lanes listed.
(3) On your mark, get set, GO!
(4) Teams race to the starting bike lanes to get point-codes and clues to next bike lanes
(5) Teams claim the lanes by pimping over the point-codes with their chalk/stencil set
(6) Locate clues pointing to other pimpable bike lanes
(7) Repeat steps 4-6
(8) Reconvene at HQ by finish time
(9) Teams with most points by end of game win!
(10) Grab a beer to celebrate and chat
Getting Points
- Trade in "point-codes" from bike lanes to earn points for your team
- More than one team can turn in the same point-code.
- Locate point-codes in designated bike lanes, near a stenciled "BFC" marking.
- The starting bike lanes are worth a small amount of points.
- There are other pimpable bike lanes out there worth more points. The starting ones will direct you to them.
- Each bike lane will direct you to other bike lanes, worth increasing amounts of points, until the sweetest bike lanes of all worth TONS of points. These last bikes lanes actually still need to be built and don't have associated point-codes.
- Trade in photos of newly-built bike lanes for the points.
- Cash in points at HQ during the game or at finish line
Pimping Bike Lanes
- Make sure another team doesn't use a point-code that your team finds by pimping the bike lane.
- Use your team's stencil and spray chalk to pimp the bike lane.
- Be sure to pimp OVER the point-code (unless you want another team to earn points for the lane too!)
- Note that if you are out of chalk, it's ok to forego pimping the bike lane. You're just sharing the love
- Be stealthy with your pimping (see "Bike Friendly City!!!!" below)
Finding More Bike Lanes
- As your team scouts out BFC designated bike lanes, you'll "unlock" new ones.
- Info about the next designated BFC bike lanes up for grabs are available on posts along the BFC designated bike lane (they will always face directly out or so that they can be seen when riding in appropriate direction of traffic).
- Do not take more than one clue at each bike lane or your team will be disqualified.
- There are probably other sneaky ways of finding more bike lanes besides just following the trail. These methods are legit.
- Here's an example of a "clue" to the next bike lanes. This one was on DeKalb between E. Elliott and S. Portland
Building Bike Lanes
- More than one team can build bike lanes on the same block.
- Blocks eligible for the point bonuses are still marked with the BFC stencil
- There are no point-codes next to the stencils
- Points for these are earned at the end of the game when you show off photos of your handiwork at HQ
- New Bike Lanes must have a line running the entire length of the block and indicating where the lane is
- New Bike Lanes must include your team's stencil marking
- New Bike Lanes must identify themselves as Bike lanes (draw a bike, write "bike lane," etc.)
- Photos documenting New Bike Lanes must proove the above parameters
"Bike Friendly City!!!!"
- If you catch someone from another team using spray chalk, yell "Bike Friendly City!" at them.
- If you catch someone from another team violating a traffic law, yell "Bike Friendly City!" at them.
- You must be on the same block as the target when you yell "Bike Friendly City!"
- If someone yells "Bike Friendly City!" at you and you or teammated around you have chalk, you must stop any chalking activity and give it to the yeller, even if you're mid-pimp.
- Do not pretend that you don't hear the yellers. If you cheat in this regard and HQ finds out, you're disqualified.
- There is a 10-Mississippi count after the chalk exchange is settled so that the yeller can get away (e.g. "1-mississippi, 2-mississippi, 3-mississippi, 4-mississippi, 5-mississippi, 6-mississippi, 7-mississippi, 8-mississippi, 9-mississippi, 10-mississippi).
Go ahead and count as fast as you can. No following the yeller until you're done. If HQ finds out you cheated about this, your team is disqualified.
Getting More Chalk
- Your team can come into to HQ at any point during the game to update HQ about your point-codes
- At pre-determined point intervals (e.g., 50 or maybe 75), your team can earn more chalk.
Miscellaneous
- Teams can split up
- Wear a helmet please!
- Folks might ask you what you are doing - assure them that the chalk will come off in the rain and let them know you are playing a little game.
"Something kind of like a scavenger hunt" usually eases strangers’ minds and is a lot easier than explaining the whole game. Don’t tell them
to come find me.
- If some emergency comes up physically or game related, get in touch with me asap. While I can’t be responsible for you and your friends, I’d still like to help out if I can.
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