A week long urban game | Sosnowiec, 7-16 september 2012
Each city is a board for games – as Krzysztof “Sęp” (Vulture) Beletsky wrote in his book “City’s a Game.” Knowing this board is extremely important for an urban game designer. Creating a game in a place that you don’t know particularly well is much more difficult, but it can also be an extremely exciting process, too!
When on May 30, 2012 we learned that the city hall in Sosnowiec would entrust us with the preparation of the annual city game, we were extremely excited and at the same time full of fears. We were not from Silesia, we did not know the city of Sosnowiec either, but it was exactly our bid that won the most votes (especially in terms of its content). The idea was extremely ambitious, because in principle it was impossible to talk about one game. Within 2 weeks (September 7-16) we have planned up to 12 different events united by a common theme and, of course, history!
It all started with the character of Dr. Remigiush Gres, who came from the United States and brought with him some new facts about the history of Sosnowiec. The city councillor spoke to him, and local historians were amazed at the new facts. However Gres was soon declared a fraudster and decided to take revenge on the residents of the city – by means using his theory of time, he was going to make Sosnowiec disappear – i.e. never to be built. And when it all seemed hopeless, a rescue team came from the future! Timesavers came to rescue the city – a special platoon maintaining the order of the space-time continuum. Of course, several of their units needed some help. This help came from the residents of Sosnowiec!
The main game was preceded by an advertising campaign, which in the first part was based on delivering viral messages. Local media published information about the appearance of the young doctor, discussions of new topics appeared on the forums of history pundits and fans, and the city council joined the discussion, too. The second part was more traditional.
The game consisted of 6 stories with different mechanics:
– Greeting the Timesavers – a quiet warm-up, which is performed at a walking pace.
– Training – sports and mental grappling at the city stadium.
– Birthday of Jan Kiepura – a musical city game about the most famous star of Sosnowiec
– Star Hunt – a game envisioning some hidden observations of the famous inhabitants of Sosnowiec from the past,
– The supply units – an economic city game in which both the analytical mind and active movement around the city are important.
– The Palace is in danger – a risky city game with a search for hidden bombs in the historic palace
In addition, people took part in 2 trips (during each of them the participants had to complete one or two small tasks) and 4 individual challenges.
Project coordination: Michał Grelewski
Lead Game Designer: Vojislav Radojićić
Creative team: Przemysław Górski, Przemysław Bogusławski, Joanna Ufnalska
Promotion coordination: Piotr Lipski
Graphic design: Jakub Dygas
Video: Adam Musiałowicz
Photos: Widzisz to?
Costumes: Martyna Cierpisz
Actor: Łukasz Biskupski
Animators: Natalia Ufnalska, Maciej Blim, Mateusz Pokora, Jan Kowalski, Mateusz Idzikowski
Pierwszy wygrany przez nas przetarg, pierwsza duża gra dla miasta, które nie jest Łodzią. Kiedy patrzymy na tą grę “od kuchni” widzimy co można było zrobić lepiej – przygotowywać gry wcześniej i dokładniej, rozważniej planować budżet, zrezygnować z nie zawsze potrzebnego rozmachu. Ale jeśli patrzymy na grę okiem uczestników to było to solidne 9 dni, z mnóstwem gier, z pomysłową kampanią reklamową, ze świetną fabułą, z animatorami dającymi z siebie wszystko. Gracze to czuli i odpowiedzieli nam tym samym – robić gry dla takich graczy to przyjemność. (M.Grelewski)