Thursday, August 5, 2010

UK StreetWars: Water Pistol Fights for Grown-ups

Via BBC -

On a street corner, an assassin waits in silence for his victim.

Dressed all in black, face covered except for his eyes, he looks menacing as he steadies his weapon and prepares to shoot with the cold-blooded eyes of a killer.

But not everything is as it seems. His weapon is bright green and it is water rather than bullets that blasts the hapless, screaming, victim as he fumbles - too late - for his own pistol.

The assassin laughs silently as he lets his soaking-wet prey through the door he was guarding.

He is taking part in StreetWars, a water "assassination" contest that started in London on Monday and which lasts until 29 August.

Kicked off in New York in 2004, the tournament has since visited cities including Vancouver, Vienna, Los Angeles and Paris, and organisers say it attracts between 125 and 300 players. The first London contest took place in 2006 and it returns this month for the first time in three years.

It is a water fight for grown ups where, they say, the entire city is your playground.

However, some city authorities criticise it as "irresponsible" and suggest it might spark security alerts.

The exact rules are kept under wraps, except to those who pay the £40 to sign up.

Players are called to the headquarters of the "Shadow Government" - as the organisers like to be known - to be given details of their target, including home address, work address, phone number and a photo, and then set the task of shooting them in any way they can.

Participants are buzzed through a door and then led to the basement with a gun - well, water pistol - shoved into their back.

Men in trilby hats hand out manila envelopes before players are thrust, disorientated, back into the real world in the knowledge someone with their photo is hunting them down.

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