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Off the Grid: Crossroads and avant-garde gaming
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.Though physically separate from the rest of Come Out & Play, area/code's Crossroads most definitely had a presence at the New York City festival, drawing players out to Pier 40 in the West Village for a chance to see GPS technology applied successfully to a fast-paced game of territorial control.Developed as part of the Van Alen Institute's The Good Life exhibition, Crossroads sets players or teams loose in a 4x6 grid of streets, where they must capture intersections using GPS-enabled phones. Their opponents, meanwhile, are attempting to do the same thing, with the hope of having the most intersections in their control at the end of thirty minutes. With phone in hand, a player can capture an intersection by remaining stationary in it for thirty seconds.Both teams, however, must keep an eye out for the Baron Samedi, an invisible spirit inspired by voodoo culture who wanders randomly through the game-space, flipping control of any intersections he crosses. The Baron is only visible on the players' phones, which also display a map of the play area and other relevant information.In an added level of strategy, players can influence the Baron's movement through the grid by placing offerings, which the Baron will then follow and devour. The Baron has no allegiances, however, and will temporarily deactivate your phone and steal your offerings if you cross his path.I was fortunate enough to have a chance to play Crossroads during my time in New York. The experience was revolutionary, though admittedly not without some technical problems.
