Journey To The End Of The Night

Journey to the End of the Night is a free street game of epic proportion, presented in Chicago by CGØ for the second year running. It is a pursuit across the city in 6 parts: players will try to make it through a series of checkpoints, while avoiding being caught by chasers. Those who fall will become chasers themselves, rising to pursue their former friends and allies. No skates, no bikes, no cars, just your feet and the good old public transportation.

Game is played on the night of Saturday, May 2nd, 2009.
Meet at 6.30 PM at 280 S. Columbus at Jackson (no pre-registration required).

Players are advised to bring some water, possibly a camera, and comfortable shoes - you can leave everything else at home. Expect to travel up to 10 miles, and to be outdoors for up to 5 hours.

We will play in rain or shine (if we are lucky, it will rain). Dress for the weather - adrenalin will only keep you so warm.

The finish line will be near the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport - non-players are welcome to join us there after 9PM (C-PS is hosting Versionfest, featuring a performance by Calvin Johnson). Though playing Journey is absolutely free, there will be a $10 cover charge to enter the Co-Prosperity Sphere if you choose to end your night there (not a game requirement).

also, help us out with an
RSVP on the SFØ site
... so that we know how many chasers to train.

need to know more?
read full game rules

This year, Journey Chicagø will be run concurrently with Journey DC. This means that when the whistle blows at Columbus and Jackson in Chicago, a whistle is blowing in DuPont Circle in Washington DC. Players should expect inter-city surprises along the Chicago route.

FAQ: "Am I too old and tired to play?"

This is an intense game, capable of recomposing your perspective of the entire city - it has often irrevocably changed the lives of players. But while it will test your mettle, Journey is not an exclusive sport by any means - players range from spunky 18-year-old athletes to computer geeks to 50 and 60 year old common citizens. Journey is not a competition of youth and strength, but a game to test yourself against the city. This is liberty through geniuinely free, self-conscious, authentic play.

"This was a fantastic voyage, and one we will remember for a long time. You turned us from plainclothes Chicagoans into metronauts, and set us loose upon the city."
[from Sparrows Fall, Journey '08]

Read stories posted by players last year in the SFØ Praxis.

Video footage from Chicagø 2008 below:

Reading of the Rules [2'56"]

The Chase [4'25"]

The Full Route [12'37"]

"Streets and their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs... that the sight of people attracts still other people, is something that city planners and city architectural designers seem to find incomprehensible. They operate on the premise that city people seek the sight of emptiness, obvious order and quiet. Nothing could be less true."
[The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs, 1961]

Help us Spread the Word

In order for a great game to happen, we need a lot of people playing - but Journey Chicagø is purposefully opposed to purchasing any sort of advertising.

This means that everyone who plays is playing because someone they know invited them to play. We need your help to get the word out. Yes, you - the potential player. Bring your friends, your enemies - anyone that you know (or don't really know), especially those that you think you can outrun.

We have prepared some materials to help you do this:

If you would like an 'official' email-formatted release to send out over your own email list, copy and paste this blurb and/or send this image as an attachment.

If you would like to pass out handbills, or post up flyers in your local café, college, club, etc., please take the print-resolution jpegs below. If you have free access to a copy machine, we encourage you to make as many of these as possible - give them to people you know to hand out.

Most importantly, talk it up. If you are excited about playing this game, inform everyone you come across between now and game time. The bulk of our players heard about this game by the genius of advertising that is 'word-of-mouth.'

THE TROPHIES

Needless to say, the most precious trophy for playing will be your sweat-stained, tattered Manifest... but in order to encourage extraordinary adventure, we have arranged for hand-sculpted, one-of-a-kind trophies, by artist Dax Tran-Caffee.

RUNNER AWARDS

All players to cross the finish line with a complete manifest will recieve a BADGE OF MERIT.

The first player to arrive at the finish line with a complete manifest will receive the RUNNER TROPHY:

(click to enlarge)

CHASER AWARDS

The first 12 Chasers to arrive at the finish line with at least one catch (proven by a runner’s blue ribbon) will receive a BADGE OF VALOR.

At 11.30pm, the Chaser present at the finish line with the most catches will receive the CHASER TROPHY:

(click to enlarge)

[Journey-DC 2009 trophies, by Dax Tran-Caffee]

(click to enlarge)

This game originally designed by the Playtime Antiboredom Society and presented in Chicagø by the folks at CGØ

CGØ is the Chicago consistory of SFØ, an international grassroots collective living in a world of anti-consumerist entertainment.

Journey to the End of the Night Chicagø is a $0 budget, not-for-profit project, presented entirely by volunteers without any kind of sponsorship.

The aim of these projects is liberty through genuinely free, self-conscious, authentic play.

Journey has been presented 9 times since 2006 by local organizers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, London, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.

Inquiries can be made to the Chicagø game organizers at: