StreetWars

Last updated

StreetWars is a three-week-long water gun "assassination" tournament that was founded in 2004 and still exists today, taking places in different cities around the world. Created by Franz Aliquo and Liao Yutai, the tournament was based on the college and high school game Assassin.

Contents

The June 2007 issue of Maxim magazine had an article written by one of the participants of the 2006 London StreetWar.

In August 2014, board game review show Shut Up & Sit Down released a podcast episode reviewing their experiences of the 2014 London StreetWar. [1]

History and background of the tournament

The tournament is loosely based on the game Assassin, popular among some high school and college students. Aliquo and Liao took the game citywide and opened it to anyone above the age of 18, and changed it to a 3 week long, 24/7 format. Featured in the book "Spray," by Harry Edge, as a tournament known as Water Wars, with different directors than the actual game.

The first StreetWars took place in the summer of 2004 in New York City; subsequent tournaments took place in Vancouver (2004), Vienna (2004), New York City (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014), San Francisco (2005, 2007, 2010, 2015), Los Angeles (2006), London (2006, 2007, 2010), Chicago (2007), and Paris (2007).

StreetWars' last event was in 2015 in San Francisco and now seems to be defunct, with the last update made to its Facebook page in August 2016 [2] and its website no longer live.

Controversy

Mayor Bloomberg blasts StreetWars

In July 2005, when asked of his opinion on StreetWars, Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City said that the creators of StreetWars could probably 'use some psychiatric help'. [3]

Police concerns in London

Before the start of the game in London in July 2006, police voiced concerns that the associated suspicious activities might lead to deployment of officers and waste of resources. [4]

The Shadow Government

While StreetWars was created by Aliquo and Liao, the tournament itself is operated by an organization that calls itself "The Shadow Government", led by two mysterious figures known only as "Supreme Commander" and "Mustache Commander". His signature is a fedora, mandarin gown, pipe, bottle of Jack Daniels, and mustache. The "Mustache Commander" is the fictional alter ego of Yutai Liao, and the "Supreme Commander" – of Franz Aliquo.

Alter ego of StreetWars co-creator, Yutai Liao, Mustache Commander made his first appearance in StreetWars during the San Francisco 2005 game. Previous to the SF 2005 game, there has only been the Supreme Commander and the mysterious "Assigner".

The now famous giant bottle of Jack Daniel's that greets each and every player at the beginning of every tournament, started with the second appearance of the Mustache Commander (the first was with his signature fedora), in a tunnel in Golden Gate Park in the SF 2005 tournament. [5] The Mustache Commander is now often portrayed with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in hand.

Past winners

Champions

The 'Champion' is the last assassin standing at the end of the three-week regulation period, or the winner of the sudden death tournament.

All games have ended in Sudden Death unless noted.

Most kills

This award goes to the assassin with the most successful hits.

Golden Mustache Award

A golden framed mustache from the Mustache Commander's own personal collection of mustaches, The Golden Mustache Award was first created in the London 2006 game as a reward for the assassin who successfully completes a contract placed on the heads of a wayward team by the Mustache Commander. The award has since been repurposed to live on in future games to acknowledge general excellence in the field of battle.

Killer2 Best Visual Kill Award

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Allan Collins</span> American mystery writer

Max Allan Collins is an American mystery writer, noted for his graphic novels. His work has been published in several formats and his Road to Perdition series was the basis for a film of the same name. He wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip for many years and has produced numerous novels featuring the character as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protests against the Iraq War</span> Demonstrations by opponents of the Iraq War

Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coast Conference</span> College athletics conference

The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Zinner</span> American guitarist

Nicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist and record producer for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Zinner is also an accomplished photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Games</span> American video game publisher

Warner Bros. Games is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The publisher was founded as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on January 14, 2004, under Warner Bros. Entertainment and transferred to its Home Entertainment division when that company was formed in October 2005. Warner Bros. Games manages the wholly owned game development studios TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, WB Games Boston, Avalanche Software, and WB Games Montréal, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dyke march</span> Lesbian-led gathering and protest march

A dyke march is a lesbian visibility and protest march, much like the original Gay Pride parades and gay rights demonstrations. The main purpose of a dyke march is the encouragement of activism within the lesbian and sapphic community. Dyke marches commonly take place the Friday or Saturday before LGBT pride parades. Larger metropolitan areas usually have several Pride-related happenings both before and after the march to further community building; with social outreach to specific segments such as older women, women of color, and lesbian parenting groups.

Mark Gonzales, also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known as the godfather of modern street skateboarding and was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time" by Transworld Skateboarding magazine in December 2011.

GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley is a television show about video games hosted by video game journalist Geoff Keighley. Originally titled Game Head, on January 25, 2008, the show relaunched under its current name with a slightly different format and further incorporation of GameTrailers hosts, Amanda MacKay and Daniel Kayser. The series airs Friday nights at different times at 12am, 12:30am, 1am, and 1:30am Eastern Time on Spike in the U.S. and Canada.

Wildbrain Entertainment, Inc. was an American entertainment company and animation studio that developed and produced television programming, motion pictures, commercial content, and licensed merchandise. Established in 1994, it maintained offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.

Bootie is the first club night in the United States dedicated solely to mashups and bootlegs, and was founded in San Francisco, California. It is now the biggest and longest running all-mashup party in the world, with regular parties in several cities.

The North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament (N.A.C.I.V.T.) is held every Labor Day weekend and features men's nine-man (9-man) and women's 6's volleyball teams. The tournament is generally held outdoors and played on pavement, with the courts typically set-up in a large parking lot or even on the streets. Due to changes in weather the tournament can also be held indoors. It is very much a cultural phenomenon; two-thirds of the players on each team must be 100% Chinese, and the rest must be of Asian descent. The inaugural tournament was held in Boston in 1944. There are teams from Boston, Calgary, Maryland, Los Angeles, Chicago, North Carolina, Houston, Montreal, New York City, New Jersey, Ottawa, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

Mike Loades is a British writer, television presenter, director, and military historian.

Joey Ansah is an English actor, director and martial artist best known for his roles in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist (2014) and The Old Guard (2020). Who is Erin Carter (2023) as a goon

Lexulous is an online word game based on the commercial board game Scrabble. It is run by an Indian company of the same name on a dedicated website, and is also available within the social networking site Facebook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megabus (North America)</span> American commercial intercity bus service

Megabus is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/Coach Canada operating in the eastern, southern, midwestern, western, and Pacific United States and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is the North American service equivalent to the European Megabus.

<i>Mafia Wars</i> Video game

Mafia Wars is a defunct freemium multiplayer social network game created by Zynga. Players assume the roles of gangsters while building their own Mafia-type organization. The players fight and "rob" other players online - completing jobs, missions, and operations to gain rewards and strength in an endless game.

RockYou was a company that developed widgets for MySpace and implemented applications for various social networks and Facebook. Since 2014, it has engaged primarily in the purchases of rights to classic video games; it incorporates in-game ads and re-distributes the games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July 1918</span> List of events during July, 1918

The following events occurred in July 1918:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Prigoff</span> American photographer, author, and lecturer (1927–2021)

James Prigoff was an American photographer, author, and lecturer focusing on public murals, graffiti, and spraycan art. He has traveled extensively throughout the world documenting these art forms, and his personal archive of 100,000 slides may well be the most comprehensive of any individual mural and graffiti documentarian.

References

  1. "Shut Up And Sit Down podcast #19: The Watercast". Shut Up And Sit Down. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  2. "StreetWars Facebook page". Facebook. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  3. Bloomberg Says Creator of StreetWars Could Probably 'Use Some Psychiatric Help', New York Sun, July 26, 2005. Accessed 25 August 2006.
  4. Water pistol game 'irresponsible', BBC online, 25 July 2006. Accessed 13 August 2006.
  5. The Warriors, radio show Weekend in America follows the Mustache Commander as he meets his players in a tunnel in San Francisco (links to an MP3 file)

Sources

News coverage