Rocky Doughty (center) and Trevor O'Neill (right) formed an alliance during a live action role playing game based on The Hunger Games books at Ray Harral Nature Park in Broken Arrow on Saturday. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
I spent Saturday morning at Ray Harral Nature Park in Broken Arrow watching a group of teenagers play their own version of the Hunger Games. It was fun to watch, and I imagine would have been even funner to play.
I'm a big fan of the series, so when my editor asked if I was interested in the story, I believe my exact response was "Yes Yes Yes!"
I met with the four organizers of the event Friday afternoon. They were all recent high school graduates, 18-19 years old. A couple of weeks after the movie came out, they decided it would be fun to play. They made up the rules all on their own, and they were pretty creative.
Aside from using Nerf guns and "swords," "spears" and "axes" made of cardboard, brooms and duct tape, the two Gamemakers had some pretty interesting ideas. They divided the park into sections, and planned to send in "fire" or "acid rain" to try to eliminate some of the participants. They used group text messages to let the tributes know that if they weren't out of a certain section within 2 minutes, the fire would kill them.
To read the story about the event and see the video, click
here.
The entire thing was very well planned, and the participants were excited about the whole thing.
And aside from having fun, the organizers said the event was also promoting exercise. Some of the tributes more who were more serious about the game even started working out in order to train for it.
And I can certainly see how this is a good idea to promote exercise. I probably would have been happier being out in the heat and around the bugs of the wooded park if I was actually playing.
Anyway, for those interested in playing, the group is planning to make this an annual, and possibly bi-annual, event. And they will probably hold some more just-for-fun versions of it. Check out their facebook page by clicking
here.
And it's not limited to Broken Arrow residents. There's also no restriction on age, except for they don't think they want anyone too old so it doesn't get, uh, "creepy." So if you're a fan over the age of 25, you'll probably need to organize your own event.
