'Payphone Warriors' call on New York streets

NEW YORK--In this era of ubiquitous cell phones, I never imagined I'd be so excited about making a call from a pay phone.

But thanks to "Payphone Warriors," a game in the Come out and Play festival of street games that was held here this weekend, I've got a pocket full of quarters and I'm ready to use them.

In "Payphone Warriors," teams of four players spread out from Manhattan's Washington Square park in a mad dash for dominance over the area's many pay phones. The idea was that at each new bank of pay phones--and who knew there would be so many in such a small area?--a player would pop in a quarter, call a prescribed number and then punch in his or her team's code.

Teams would then get points based on how long their claim on an individual phone went unchallenged. A team could maintain control of a phone by leaving someone to guard it. But if a team left a claimed phone unguarded, another could swoop in and control it.

The game, which was designed by several people, including Abe Burmeister and festival co-organizer Greg Trefry, lasted for only about 30 minutes, but I can honestly say I've never had a more fun--or exhausting--half-hour of making phone calls in my life.

The game began in Washington Square with Burmeister patiently explaining the rules to the many players in attendance. As people asked questions, Burmeister would do his best to answer them.

As we discussed practicalities of how to keep other teams from gaining control over an already claimed phone, I jokingly asked if we could sabotage the phones by, say, plugging gum in the coin slot.

"None of the pay phones in jail do any points for you," Burmeister answered, deadpan.

As the game started, many of the players sprinted off in search of phones to conquer. My team, which, like several others, had decided to spread out to cover maximum ground, chose to walk instead.

Quickly, we noticed that no one had claimed a pay phone kitty-corner to the park. So I walked up to it and, triumphantly, inserted my first quarter of the day.

It would not be my last.

Sadly, though, as soon as I walked away from the phone, a player from another team walked up and popped his own quarter into it. So much for control of that phone.

A few minutes later, I arrived at the corner of West 4th Street and Broadway and noticed that the two phones there were both being guarded by players from other teams.

So I decided to move on. I noticed that another phone was being loosely guarded by someone, but that he was straying a few feet away from the booth. The rules said that to maintain control, you had to be physically touching a phone.

Claiming territory
I swooped in, touched the booth and attempted to claim the phone. But the player disagreed and said he was still guarding it. I didn't want to argue, so I swallowed my pride and walked away, sure I had been right.

Fortunately, my perseverance paid off just a couple minutes later when I saw another phone being carelessly guarded. Once again, I appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed a phone out from under a lazy guard's eye. This time there was no argument, and the vanquished guard slinked away, discouraged.

[jerseyrich]

Sounds like Battlefield 2

This game is similar to Battlefield 2 from EA Games. In that game you cap flags that remain yours until the enemy wins them back. Except that in BF2 you use guns and tanks :)

Payphone Warriors sounds like fun. Good exercise too.

[hando30]

I got a tiny bit of footage..

Looked like heaps of fun:

<A href-"http://yourmanifesto.blogspot.com/2006/09/come-out-and-play-payphone-warriors.html">A guy creeps up on a phone, another guys protects it.

[hando30]

footage: oops. Here 'tis

here

[ralfthedog]

This link should work.

http://yourmanifesto.blogspot.com/2006/09/come-out-and-play-payphone-warriors.html

[ISARick]

You need to get a life!

And I thought "You've been served" was stupid. These people need to find something to do with their lives. How about a game to see how many quarters you can give to the homeless and help someone? Winner gets to be a hero on the nightly news.....

[jackrabbitslam]

Payphone

I dont know,but that sounds so cheesy and boring,
I guess you had to be there.

[WJeansonne]

Get a Life, Man!

Sounds like a nerd world to me.

[BorgInva]

AWESOME!

Awesome fun! I would have loved to be a part of that.

[bobby_brady]

Do these people who play have a real job?

eom

[loser99]

You killed my dog

I tried to use a phone that day in the park because my dog had
just been hit by a car, but a geek guarding a phone wouldn't let
me use it.

Hope your game was fun!

[sdencar]

Let me understand this

So your dog gets hit by a car, which to me is an extreme emergency, and you let a nerd tell you that you can't use the pay phone? If that were me, there would be one less nerd in this world. Sounds like you should have been just a wee bit more forceful.