Difference between revisions of "How to Host a BANG"

Revision as of 12:44, 12 October 2015

Bay Area Night Game What's BANG?/About Past BANGs Teams Mailing List How to Host a BANG How to Write a BANG Puzzle Hall of Fame

Hosting a BANG is simple: Get a team, write some puzzles, test those puzzles (repeatedly), make lots of copies, and hand them out to teams who walk by at a specific location at a specific date and time. Tell teams if they get the answer right, or help them find their way. Determine who won, if anyone. Kick back with your favorite drink and knowledge a job well done.

The Responsibility

"Any team that regularly plays in BANG should plan to produce one at some point."

The Bay Area Night Game is produced by volunteers only. There is no requirement for anybody to run one, though it is strongly suggested that the winner of BANG - or at least the highest placing team that has not hosted a previous BANG - host one within a year. This tradition, though, has fallen by the wayside and so it is up to every player to become not just a consumer, but a producer of this puzzle hunt. "Give back" is the key phrase here.

It is a tremendous responsibility, but don't be cowed by that. A BANG can be as easy or hard as you want, as simple or complex as you want. If you decided to hand out six standard paper puzzles (word searches, crosswords, cryptograms, etc.), teams would still come and enjoy themselves. It helps to set expectations ahead of time - "This BANG will consist mostly of standard puzzles of middling difficulty" for instance - but people will be grateful, happy, and have a good time.

To paraphrase Frank Herbert, "The BANGs must flow!" Help be part of that.

Initial Planning

There are lots of ways to go about producing a BANG and most of these ideas should be taken as suggestions, not rules. Find your own way of planning that works for you.

You will need a few things to get started, though:

• General date of when you want to run it

Team

While BANGs have been written by a single person in the past, it's tough to do and draining on the individual. Plus, the puzzles tend to end up feeling the "same", no matter how different they may be.

You probably need at least four people to get started, but maybe limit it to no more than six. Too few people means too much responsibility for each. Too many means it's harder to reach a consensus. But if twenty people works for you, do it!

You will want to start having regular meetings, either in person or via conference. The meetings will become more frequent as the event approaches.

Theme

The theme is what links your puzzles together. You don't necessarily need a theme, but the players love it when there is one. It can be as simple as reality TV, or as complex as an integrated story about uncovering a conspiracy by the California governor to use Twitter to steal gold and finance a secession. One BANG - based off of Iron Puzzler - had a theme simply using three words (star, nut, scale).

Use your favorite TV show or movie for inspiration. Create a unique story or use an novel idea. Use a major (or minor!) holiday. Consider not making the theme too broad (things on Earth) or too specific (the pinky finger). Too broad and it won't feel themed. Too specific and the puzzles will get repetitive.

Location

You don't need to know where every puzzle is going to be located at the start, but it will be helpful to have a few ideas. Narrow by Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma), several of which have not yet hosted a BANG. Further narrow it to a city or geographic location (park, campus, etc.).

Date

Have a general idea of when you want to host your BANG. A month or a season at least.

Later on, you'll also need:

• Puzzles
• Specific locations (and permission to use said locations if necessary)
• People to test puzzles (AKA playtesters)
• People to hand out puzzles (AKA volunteers)

Who can host a BANG?

While BANG etiquette dictates that teams that win a BANG should plan to host one, you don't have to win a race to organize one. Anyone is free to, and encouraged to, put on BANGs. Judging by the attendance at recent events, not too many people are going to complain about having another race in the mix

How long/difficult shoud BANG be?

At its inception, the race was intented to be a shorter, easier evening event that most teams would finish in the allotted time. Recent BANGs have started to skew longer and more difficult, with a lower than 100% finish rate. There is certainly something to be said for both sorts of races- Perhaps a How Hard Should BANG be Forum would be a good place for open discussion (if anyone has anything to say).

Where should I host BANG?

Anywhere you want. Usually they are held on a campus of some sort, or in a fun neighborhood that has lots of parks, and a pretty happening downtown area. The most difficult part of finding a location is figuring out where the finish line will be- restaurants are often reluctant to let a party of 100 take up the place without a guaranteed food order, and open community centers are often hard to find. That said, people are always able to figure something out, so just be persistent.

A few places that might make excellent BANG locations would be:

• Piedmont Avenue in Oakland
• Solano Avenue in Berkeley
• Downtown Burlingame
• Rockridge area in Oakland/Berkeley
• Feel free to add to the list