From Oakland Magazine, October 2007
A hostage situation is unfolding at the foot of Oakland City Hall, battles are raging between two rival gangs, and it is all a form of city pride. Whassup? Urban Capture the Flag, that's what. The old summer camp standby has been retooled for the city-dwelling scenester and turned loose at the epicenter of Oakland, to repurpose municipal territory and have raucous fun doing it.
Around dusk on a Tuesday night in June, players begin to materialize on Frank Ogawa Plaza, summoned by Internet postings and word of mouth. Those assembled definitely look like Oakland. They are ethnically diverse, equally split by gender, ranging in age from high school to early 40s, ostensibly here to capture flags. Perhaps the real quarry is fleeting youth.
Liam Pierce, who has volunteered to run tonight's event, summons the group to give newcomers a quick rundown of the rules. As in the rural version of the game, the object is to snatch the opposing team's flag and bring it back to your base. The playing field is split across the middle into zones controlled by each team. If tagged in the opposing team's zone, you are sent to its "jail," where you languish until rescued by one of your teammates. The game boundaries include all of Frank Ogawa Plaza: The oak tree depicted in the city's logo is one home base; the Bruce Beasley statue, Vitality, at the north end of the plaza, the other.
The group counts off to determine teams that then fade into the darkness, discussing strategy, and applying orange or blue face paint. Perhaps the biggest challenge of Urban Capture the Flag is distinguishing who is actually part of the game. Wily players have capitalized on this human camouflage, posing as ordinary citizenry out for a stroll in order to invade enemy territory.
Pierce shouts "Game on!" and, well, nothing much happens at first. Anyone would mistake it for an average night in downtown Oakland. Then the first Blue raiders come tearing into Orange lands. Defenders scramble to tag them before they reach the flag, and a few are sent directly to jail.
One night, the dark figures running furtively around City Hall prompted bewildered security guards to call in reinforcements. Police cruisers came screaming into the game's "safe zone." Since then, there has been an unspoken detente with the guards on the plaza.
Urban Capture the Flag happens fast. Before this observer can get a handle on who's attacking whom, the Blue team has already arrived safely home with the Orange flag (an Oaklandish T-shirt, natch.)
Another round begins immediately, with players darting behind concrete planters, making lunges from the safe zone and attempting to distract the opposing team. Suddenly a commotion erupts on the east side of the plaza. A dark form lumbers from the bushes toward Orangeland. It's a gorilla. This distraction is the cue for several Blues to storm enemy territory. This is hardly the first time that psychological warfare has been deployed in UCTF, however, and the Oranges fend off the marauders-this time anyway.
As expected, the urban gorilla turns out to be Robert Feldstein, who has become famous for such tactics. "I dressed as a garbage man once and got as far as the other side," says Feldstein, who played all last year. He also once camouflaged himself in a large cardboard box, leaping out to tag unsuspecting raiders. A teacher at Lighthouse Charter School, Feldstein discovered the game when he first moved here, and a Google search turned up the Oaklandish site. "I grew up in New Hampshire playing Capture the Flag at summer camps. Although that was always in the woods, a different environment, and costuming wasn't as helpful then!"
A conversation between artists led to the first game about five years ago. There is no official organizer, though Nonchalance - the arts collective that celebrates all things Oakland - announces the game locations and times on its Web site. "Any reclamation of public space, making use of the empty downtown at night, is definitely up my alley," says Nonchalance founder Jeff Hull.
Four games later, the Blue team has prevailed every time. It takes a high school kid named Brendan to finally bring a flag home for Orange.
The other players of drinking age all head off to the nearby bar Radio for some post-game analysis. There is much talk of bruises, daring jailbreaks and the thrilling lateral flag pass by a Blue raiding team. Over in the corner a rookie named Ralph is recovering with a beer. "I came with a friend. I think my last Capture the Flag game was in 1987," this Charles Schwab financial manager says wearily. "I spent a lot of time in jail. But I discovered that sitting in jail is not that bad." Will he be back? "You bet. It's like legal crack!"
-By Matt Dibble
-Photography by Lewis Smith
