Experimental Game Designs

In previous sections, we’ve detailed the rules for conventional configurations of Hide and Seek. We have, however, considered some alternate versions of the game, and we thought we’d detail those here in case you’d like to try them—or use them as a jumping off point for your own game mode!

Playing with Cars (or on Foot)

It is not lost on us that your hometown may not have sufficient public transit to play even the smallest version of Hide and Seek. Of course, there’s always the possibility of playing when you’re out of town, but you may still be determined to make it work with cars and feet. In this case, you’ll have to make a few modifications to the game’s traditional ruleset:

Setting Your Map: Without a transit system, setting your map will become a matter of simply setting map borders. Make sure that these are drawn carefully, as it’ll be even easier to confuse what is or isn’t a valid hiding spot without a transit system.

Hiding Zones: Hiding zones will still be drawn as a circle with a radius of varying size, depending on game size, somewhere on the map. Instead of being anchored on a transit station, you should choose a street terminus to act as the center of your zone—that means the point at which one street ends, either at an intersection with another street or a dead end. This street terminus should serve the same role as your transit station; photos that would normally be taken there, questions referencing transit station names would reference that street’s name, etc.

Questions: Most questions will still work as intended. Ignore any questions that reference transit frequency. As mentioned, some questions that reference the hider’s transit station will reference their street terminus instead.

Curses: Any curses that cannot be played while seekers are on transit should not be played when the seekers are in a moving car. Curses that prevent the seekers from taking “transportation” or “transit”—or impede them from doing something in transit—include cars.

Playing with Two Teams of Seekers

We’ve always liked the idea of playing with two teams of seekers, competing against each other to find the same hider. Ultimately, we never used this version of the game for our show given the number of narrative threads and players it would require to pull off. You, however, are probably not making a show, and therefore might actually be able to make this work.

In this version of the game, scores would not be determined by hiding time. Instead, players would be competing for the best seeking time. This can be done in one of two ways: by points or by overall lowest seeking time.

The winner is determined by points. Each round is worth one point. The seeker team with the lowest seeking time (as in: fastest time to find the hider) is awarded the point. In this configuration of the game, the hider is an entirely neutral party during their hiding run—one of the other teams is awarded the point no matter what. With no incentive to slow teams down, the hider does not have control of the hider deck. Instead, the hider administrates splitting the deck between both teams of seekers. Once a team asks the hider a question, the hider does the proper card draw, and then informs the other team of their reward. The teams of seekers are able to track and cast curses on each other, and time bonuses subtract time from their final seeking time. Veto and randomize powerups are removed from the deck. After each round, the positions cycle, and one team of seekers serves as the neutral hiding team for the next round.

The winner is determined by overall lowest seeking time. This means the fastest time to find the hider in any round. Here, the hider does actually have an incentive to choose a difficult hiding spot and slow both teams down, as they are competing against the scores earned during their hiding run. They maintain control of the hider deck, and are able to cast curses against whichever team they choose. Seekers in this version of the game do not really interact—they do not have trackers on each other, and do not have any means of slowing each other down; it is simply a race to get the faster time.

In either case, many mechanics of the game can remain unchanged. Map set-up would follow the same rules, as would any conditions for choosing hiding zones and hiding spots. In configurations where the seekers control the hiding deck, some curses would need to be removed or modified; specifically, curses with costs that reference the seekers’ distance from the hider would not be playable, as the other team of seekers would not know whether or not the cost was fulfilled. If you plan on playing some version of this game, we would recommend writing a few custom curses—or even powerups—that are specifically designed to be played by seekers.

Global Hide and Seek

Should you do this? No. Will it work? Probably not. Is someone going to try anyway? Almost certainly. So here are a few thoughts on how Hide and Seek could work across the entire globe.

Firstly, you almost certainly won’t be able to dictate a specific list of transit networks that are included in your game, so you’ll have to set a general set of parameters for valid transit stations instead. For example, this game might include “commercial airports that serve at least 100,000 passengers annually,” and “non-metro train stations.”

Secondly, the basic time scale we’ve provided for large games would not work here. You would need to use a new global time scale. Hiding periods would last 24 hours. Scalable time bonuses, time penalties, and time limits would follow large-scale values multiplied by 5.

Many—or most—curses would need to be removed and replaced. Curses that aim to slow seekers down by distracting them with an activity—such as Curse of the Cairn—would be essentially useless at this scale. You would almost certainly want to write new curses that correspond with the amount of time and money being spent in this version of the game. Perhaps a curse that sends the seekers scuba diving for a particular kind of shell? A curse that forces them to climb a mountain of a certain height? A curse that forces them to camp on a deserted island?

You’ll also need to add more questions, in almost every category. Add hemisphere, continent, and country to matching; add the equator and national capital to measuring; add much larger radars; additional thermometers; probably a whole new larger category of tentacles. All kinds of stuff.

Anyway, there’s almost no way that this game could be properly balanced. Don’t do it. Spend your money on something sensible. Put it in a mutual fund or something. Please don’t do this. (But if you do, let us know. We’re just the tiniest bit interested in what might happen.)