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Amazing Video of 1,200 people playing Capture the Flag in Downtown Toronto

youtube.com — 1,200 people come together to play a massive urban game, using public transit to navigate the giant map and WiFi and SMS to communicate with teammates. Wild!

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  • jownz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+168See! RL is still more fun than WoW!
    • jus1haz2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+50Damn thats badass! I wanna play :P
    • Recuso, on 10/12/2007, -4/+168MMRLCTF?
    • Evoguy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+38Looks like it was a giant chaotic mess to me, still fun though.
    • Reziarfg, on 10/12/2007, -47/+10@Recuso
      MMRLCTF?
      Massively Multiplayer Real Life Capture The Flag?
    • kalleanka, on 10/12/2007, -7/+51Ok, so one guy hide the flag in his jacket, walked all the way and the other 1199 guys was doing nothing?
    • beelz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12http://newmindspace.com/

      When is this going to happen in San Francisco
    • NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14They need a bigger flag with a wide base so it cant be concealed.
    • spidoman, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6"See! RL is still more fun than WoW!"

      Don't be stupid. Enough with the lies!

      /sarcasm
    • Filozzi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20I reckon any recreational activity in RL is better than its game equivalent, especially when it resembles a massive multiplayer game like this!
    • maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18lol @ the whiny blond bitch
      how typical
    • bennybrill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I was there in 2005, it wasn't as big then but it was still amazingly fun.

      theres this underground mall thing that is open 24 hours, but with the shops all shut down called PATH that essentially doubled the playing field
    • Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Videogames will never match real life experience as soon as they utilize only two of our senses and very few of our motor skills, we merit a lot more than that. VR real immersion, on the other hand is a different beast. Let's see if our kids will actually mock us for our paleolithic ideas, i.e. "virtual games are no match of real life".
    • leonwehttam, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1the fact that you used the term RL, i dont believe you....LIES!
    • randall814, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10This video is incredible. Wouldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes in America. Yet another reason, among many, why I should cross lake Huron into Canada.

      ps. You are abbreviating real life into an acronym. That is pathetic.
    • wthnow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I wish I could digg this more. Sidenote: I miss halo1 lan parties.
    • teddtech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Wow, we try that here in the US and A. Either a riot will start or B.Cops will start arresting people.
    • theuber1337, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3We (as in all my friends and I) have an annual urban capture the flag match every summer. The entire downtown city area is our battlefield and we generally use the roofs of shops as bases. We go about it in a very similar way, though obviously on a much smaller scale. Approx 40 people vs. 1200
      It is usually one of our highlight summer activities.
    • HexagonSun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Haha! My whole town had a huge game of super-soaker tag once. It was good fun.
    • Klever, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Is Youtube just really slow to update or are people digging without actually viewing??

      From YouTube = Views: 310

      Current Diggs = 1691
    • cameron074, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@klever

      yeah, I dugg this around 2 pm this afternoon but didn't view til now. youtube is blocked at work :/
    • godfa7h3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Klever

      I see you posted about an hour ago when it was at 310. I just checked it out now and it's still at 310. I was going to say something too, but apparently it just takes a while to update.
    • PixelCloud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i heart newmindspace
  • LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+66OK, even I have to say I'm impressed. I thought getting 20 or 30 people to play CtF was pretty cool. But 1200 or thereabouts takes the cake.
    • NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5yeah thats more people than LIVE in my town.
      WOOO Steelville, mo!
    • FuriousGopher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Holy Cow that would be so much fun! And this video has given me great ideas for the next time I play CTF (Rollerblades, bicycles...)
  • n8dawg87, on 10/12/2007, -4/+103That was one of the funnest nights of my life. We so pnwd the blue team. The best part was when the cops pulled up when we were just starting at Bay and King (Right out front of the Toronto Stock Exchange) and they were so confused as to why the hell there were 1200 ppl with glow sticks standing there and climbing all over everything. The look on their faces was priceless. Props to newmindspace.com
    • mancat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+69no. they were just confused because you were nowhere near the freaking flag. they were in on it, man.
    • Wolfbeta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16That was a great night!
      Unfortunately I was on the losing team :(.

      Caught a glimpse of myself on top of the bus shelter at the beginning. For people there, I was the guy who was up there the whole time shooting the ridiculously large crowd.

      There's photos of the event up on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfbeta/

      Lot's of great strategies all over the place, me and my group splinter cell'd our way up University, averting all the Pink outposts, and posing as homeless people when need be.

      pkTO!
    • zforrester, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Man that's so awesome
      How can I get in on the next one?
    • SourWorm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10blue and purple .. couldn't they find colors that are easier to tell apart?
    • Wolfbeta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It wasn't their fault. They ordered red and blue, but the supplier shipped purple instead.
  • guytoronto, on 10/12/2007, -4/+54Toronto rocks!
    • dchu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7wish i knew that was going on, i so would have come, checking out newmindspace.com now, gonna see if i can make it thier event this friday.
  • JennyPenny, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12I missed it!

    :( If only I had known.....
  • SlappyMc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+87See guys, Canada is cool...
  • madc0w, on 10/12/2007, -6/+36*****, that is ***** sick. Other cities should hav e this type of stuff *Cough*new york*cough*
    • klaymen, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4they do...
    • Gemini25RB, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8*cough*Pittsburgh*cough*
    • Memitim, on 10/12/2007, -5/+135We can't do this here in the States. By the time the sun rose we'd have 12 players dead from gunshots, 40 killed in traffic accidents, 250 lawsuits filed, and the score would still only be 1-0. And even that would be disputed for the next two years.
    • riah, on 10/12/2007, -4/+40@Memitim
      Too much evening news for you.
    • pyrotix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12We started it in New York too! After we moved to Toronto it was taken over by http://www.gothamgamers.com/
    • PDelahanty, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Boston! Must play in Boston!
    • jman8888, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4*O*H*I*O
    • maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22I would be scared as ***** to run around most U.S. cities late into the night
    • theexpress, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Gemini25RB

      Do tell what you mean by Pittsburgh. I'd love to show up if there is something of the sort.
    • edilclyde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1doing this in LA will result in a mass murder event..
    • j0c1f3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So....whatta ya gonna do about it.....if everyone starts workin on a fix now......we should be cool by 2015
    • Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i can see how that could be a problem in new york, the crime rate and the crowded areas (and the traffic, new york taxi drivers anyone?), but i think it might be feasible in Portland or maybe SF
  • NoStoppingUs, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24while i stopped playing capture the flag in 3rd grade, thats a much better way for 1200 young adults to spend a friday night that going out and getting ***** faced, though that may have happened afterwards anyway.
  • klaymen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3they do this in NYC a lot as well. check meetup.com there might be people who do it in your city.
  • Rambyte, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0Oh man, I wish someone would organize something like that here in the US.
  • TinFoil209, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12You took my flag eh?
  • TheFinestShadow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Heh, this would be awesome to do, but I live near Detroit. I wonder what the death toll would be like...
  • Smoov, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25Toronto is a cool city. I'd say it is up there with New York, SF, LA, Miami and Chicago.
  • paragonconcept, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2they need to do this again so i can go next year......
  • Trigonometron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Last time I was involved with a massive CTF, about 1/4 of the people ended up losing skin to pavement. It's dangerous!!
  • idtboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I think Zedge.net sponsored something similar in Europe few months back
  • cdemi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2GodLike!
  • Salival, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Go T-dot!!
  • SeanFranchise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is awesome! I just finished taking a class on situations like this where people use cell phones to organize these types of things. Its wild to see a video so soon after my last meeting. If anyone wants to know more about these kinds of activities check out the book Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold, its quite interesting.
  • NinjaYaddaYadda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Need more proof that Toronto kicks ass?

    Toronto also hosts the annual Toronto Zombie Walk:
    http://community.livejournal.com/toronto/4943828.html

    • lasmith, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I thought the CTF was kind of lame, but the ZOMBIE WALK looks awesome.
  • ferrarif1, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3I WAS THERE!! FRICKEN AWESOME!
    • yableo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10so was I
      it was totally mind-blowing

      there are these underground mall corridors called the PATH system they stretches underneath both of the teams, so you could sneak under and then pop up on enemy territory. that was possibly the coolest element to the game!
  • koolaiddude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This would be really cool in New York, divide the different islands up into teams and use the subways for transportation. I wounder if that would be possible to organize.
  • SeanFranchise, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Yeah, a good bit of our coursework was studying how mobile technologies facilitate flash mobs. Good links by the way.
  • Chaotyk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Holy crap. That's awesome.

    Now all they need is a 1,200 person laser tag game in an urban setting, and that would do it. Or even better - CTF laser tag. Or a sort-of "capture the point" game. They'd need rules to compensate for campers or whatever, but still, that's be amazing.
    • jimcavoli, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yeah, a laser tag/ctf combo would rock. Too bad, seeing as how I'm near Cleveland. This probably isn't the greatest place to try that. It still rocks!
  • jkleinfeld, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5this would be an AWESOME diggnation story... digg it up!
  • haloevo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2***** AWESOME.
  • moo113, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I just move away from Toronto and find this, damnit. Cool stuff though, props to newmindspace.
  • Chairmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I'm using the power of Facebook and Myspace to do this in my city - Omaha, Nebraska.
  • levyjl1988, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2***** awesome, I live in ontario and it takes me like 30 min to gt to downtown, i can't believe it was held there, I would've came but I didn't know :( Dugg for Toronto! DUGG!
  • toasty168, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Canadians are cooler than I thought.
    • Pulse_Instance, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13We sure are, especially right now during the winter.
  • sumskater41, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0That's superrr epic.
  • SIDSI, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Thats awesome, me and my friends did a huge game of tag in Pittsburgh a couple years ago we had about 55 people.
  • crazyman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I've been wanting to does this for years.
  • camkerr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I was participating, and there were more than 1000 people, it was wicked. Subways were in bounds too so people with passes were sneaking around underground, it was pretty cool.
    • ulyssesyt, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1uh, *****. i was there, there weren't 1000 people playing.
  • ulyssesyt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4jesus that was lame. people running around arguing, cussing, lost, fighting (you didn't get to see that part) going "WOOOO!" until most people gave up and drifted off to do other stuff.

    saw it.

    "amazing".

    • lasmith, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Yeah I don't see what was so AMAZING about this video.
    • Shmoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Some people are digging down ulyssesyt but that's actually a much more accurate account of what happened.
  • darnfabulous, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I checked out their website and they've organizied some other cool events. I wish I was there for the group pillow fight in NY they held.
  • wmcheesemaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0ahh no fair, you pkTO guys must've been on blue, no wonder we lost what with your crazy ass ninja moves
    • Wolfbeta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Blue lost ;).

      pkTO was supposed to be all blue, we were at Cloud Gardens stratagizing an hour ahead of time. Then Mcnasty decided to go on purple.
  • hcetrepus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6A) Amazing is an entirely overused word.

    B) Is the majority of your guys language so limited, you can only come up with a foul word to describe that you think something is cool? Or are you all 15?
  • seattle98104, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1okay, next time this is done i'm flying to ***** toronto.
  • TrinaryWyrm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Mister Kev, It's Shawn Q! Dude Toronto's got some wicked grounds for capture the flag it seems, good stuff!

    Are you guys gonna do another New York CTF in the future? We had so much fun that time!
  • farther, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WTB CTF IRL FTW PLZ!!!!1111`

    In other words, I will have to take the five-hour train ride from Ottawa to Toronto next time this ***** goes down.
  • pyrotix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If anybody is wondering where we got the 1,200 number from, we bought 900 glowing necklaces from Incredible Novelties. We ran out about half an hour before the game started, and after that counted the number of people who came up to us an asked, "Are there any necklaces left?" This figure does not include the people who came late.

    If you are interested in organizing your own, we have written a guide! http://www.newmindspace.com/metromorphosis.php
  • The0cho, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Umm....why are people comparing this to WoW? Yeah, there is CTF in WoW, but its been a RL game for a long time not to mention being in countless games before WoW...
  • BigJuiceMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12holy crap Canada is cool. Try that ***** in a US city and the cops in riot gear will start tasering you! :(
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3At least that would make for a more exciting video. A little police brutality never hurt anybody.
    • sumskater41, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Except for innocent people... Anyone ever see that documentary, i think it was called this is freedom? some 1990s protest against WTO.
  • Spo8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Jesus, Canada is awesome.
  • SwankRock3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now if only we could get that many people together to do something a little more worth while than capture the flag, like some real pointed "Project Mayhem" type *****, then we'd be onto something.
  • dimension89, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I lived in Toronto most of my life. I now live in NY. Now, I wanna go back to Toronto.
    • yableo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the newmindspace people are acually from NY, funny enough. they do events there too!
  • hadimirza, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1HAHA...I live like 2 minutes from his place...and i don't know why I didn't know about it. Well, screw the CTF next year, I'm going for the zombie one! Yeah Canada!
  • sonofalink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Propellerheads... nice.
  • Justin6512, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Did I see a Ninja in there? Awesome!

    This looks so fun!
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