Last year’s game theme was fairytales, with the description below.
This year’s theme to be announced in May!
Mystical messages, parallel worlds, and a dream ahead.
In a realm where you are a fairytale hero, you escape from your book to embark on a self-discovery quest to write your own story. But as you step out of your book, relentless chasers threaten your dream and freedom. You must solve challenges in parallel stories to collect clues that guide your way. A fatal message questions your entire journey. Can you write your own story before the end of the night, or will you be trapped in a life you don’t want?
Join the adventure to see if you can rewrite your own destiny.
Written by Dr Yuki
ABOUT
JOURNEY
It began in San Francisco in 2006 and has been played in many cities around the world, including London in 2007-2009 and 2024, and we're bringing it back on Saturday June 28th! More on the origins of Journey here.
Contestants must dash around the city and complete challenges at five checkpoints while evading pursuit. You could think of it as sort of a massive game of tag with puzzles and elements of immersive theatre along the way. All players will begin as runners and upon being released at the start, you will find your way to the first checkpoint while evading capture by the game chasers. If caught, you will become initiated as a chaser and your new goal will be to catch as many of your former allies as possible. For further information on rules see below.
The course, which begins at Trafalgar Square Park, will be approximately 9km and may take 2 to 4 hours to complete (accounting for interference). Oh and it's free!
Online pre-registration is required to play and will open in May! Prior to that, if you wish to sign up as a volunteer or to receive email notification when registration opens please fill out this form.
Your path begins here… will you change the course of history, or will you be history?
RULES
Players Must
- Travel by foot or by train only – absolutely no buses, cars, taxis, bikes, skateboards, rocket packs, etc.
- Do the checkpoints in order.
- After arriving at the checkpoint and finding the checkpoint agents, you must follow all of their rules and instructions, or risk disqualification as a runner.
- If you arrive at a checkpoint after the checkpoint has closed, you may ask a stranger to sign your map.
- Your ribbon must be worn visibly on the head at all times.
- Hiding your ribbon is considered cheating, and is punishable by death.
- Use common sense, do not chase players into the street during a red light, or otherwise create dangerous situations. Do not tackle those you catch to the ground.
- If a chaser tags you, you must surrender your runner’s ribbon & put on your chaser’s ribbon. The chaser who tagged you remains a chaser.
- Only one tag at a time: chasers cannot tag while exchanging the ribbon.
- In case of medical emergency, call 999!
Safe Zones
- Areas surrounding each checkpoint as designated on your map.
- Sidewalks around given safezones are also safe.
- Specific additions might be announced at the beginning of the game.
Goal
Checkpoint agents will be at the five checkpoints around the city, waiting to stamp players’ maps after they complete a challenge. At the start point, runners will receive a map of the checkpoints, and so the game begins. Awards, stories and possibly light refreshments will be presented at the finish line.
Runners
Your ultimate goal is to reach the finish with a complete set of stamps in your map, and without being caught by the chasers. If you are caught (tagged), remove your player ribbon and give it to the chaser who tagged you, then put on your chaser ribbon and begin catching other players. The person who caught you remains a chaser, but you will join their ranks.Chasers
The game is not over! Now your goal is to catch as many runners as you can before the end. How many player ribbons can you collect? The chaser who catches the most players and turns them into chaser will be awarded at the end.On the Day
You will receive
A player ribbon
A course map
A chaser ribbon (to wear if caught)
You should wear
Comfy clothes/shoes for running
Your game face
Theme (time travel) related costume
You should bring
Water
A camera (optional)
A charged smartphone or good sense of direction
ORIGINS OF JOURNEY
Journey to the End of the Night was created in 2006 by Ian Kizu-Blair, Sean Mahan and Sam Lavigne in San Francisco, CA. Their goal was to design a game that put players in the middle of a cinematic chase scene through a city at night. They were inspired by bike messenger alleycat races, urban exploration, capture the flag, parkour, and, of course, tag. Since then it has been played nearly 100 times in over 25 cities around the world.
Check out the international site for all Journeys to learn more: http://ichaseyou.com/about/
WHY IS THIS
EVENT FREE
We organise Journey to the End of the Night because we are passionate about helping Londoners to get out of their comfort zones, explore the city, get creative and immerse themselves in imagination. We love doing it and spend several months preparing the game. It is important to us to be able to keep it free to players so that it is accessible to anyone.
That said, we do incur costs for the game materials, maps, ribbons, etc (typically a few hundred pounds) so if you're able to support us with a donation of £5 it really helps!
