We played Capture the Flag at night in the woods as a teen. Bruce and Mark's family had a house near a lake in New Hampshire (See right for view from their barn), and the excitement built over the days preceding the event. With flashlights and flags, two dozen or so of us divided into two teams and spread out over acres of woods, old granite walls, and overgrown fields and pastures. Running, chasing, skulking, hiding, sneaking, shouts in the dark, chains of jailed players, and the end of night swim in the lake all combined in a swirl of nostalgia. This is everything a game could or should evoke, 40 years later: breathless excitement, anticipation, planning, and strong friendships.As a game, it had a loose rules structure, no real boundaries except the center line, very low stakes, and a high level of repeat satisfaction/replayability, even though the basics did not change much at all. It was the interplay with the ephemeral qualities, I think, that propelled it into my head first. Would any other game capture all of this? Do they need to? Do they refract parts of it?
