The problem is running out twice a day to mail the package.
[quote=“HubZilla, post:32, topic:605334”]
To answer some of the above questions. This may throw in some monkey wrenches, but it’s all from the story:
[list]
[li]He waits in line at the Games Network, goes through a battery of tests. So they get a very thorough physical and psychological profile of him.[/li][/quote]
I think that’s the key that should make the game unwinnable. If you can do a physical and psychologial profile of the candidate, not only do you know how he will act when running (thus giving extra information to the hunters like a profiler does), you can also reject any competent, controlled people and only choose those who will break under pressure and don’t have enough knowledge to get very far. (Getting a false passport or help from the underworld requires special knowledge.)
[quote]
[li]He is given a brief intro on TV, and then dropped into a taxi. [/li][/quote]
But that intro will be delayed 24 hours, right? Otherwise he wouldn’t get very far. How much checks at airports did the author imagine when he wrote this - would Americans need ID for national flights, or could he go to the next airport, buy 10 different tickets and only use one?
Ah, right.
Well, then use the expense money to buy an ambulance, hire two paramedics to drive it and tell them to collect their patient next morning (yourself). A sick person travelling in an ambulance shouldn’t attract attention, right? And you can travel from town to town looking for a specialist doctor who can restructure your face as cover story.
[quote=“HubZilla, post:32, topic:605334”]
[li]It is the most popular show. Think trying to be Clay Aiken walking through the mall in American Idol’s heyday. EVERYONE is looking for you. The cities and town are essentially large ghettos where no one has anything to do but watch TV and hope to get a reward for your demise.[/li][/QUOTE]
I don’t know how bad it is for known actors in the US - I hear they are regularly mobbed, but if they show up in Podunk, would people recognize them or dismiss it as coincidence, because such a celeb wouldn’t come here?
And with stars, isn’t it the case that when they go out in jogging pants and without make-up, people don’t recognize them?
Dying your hair, putting on a beard (okay, no options for females like me), wearing different clothes, don’t they change a person very much for the public? I know trained police officers could probably see through that - but the normal public just from watching a face on TV? I don’t know (but then I’m not good at facial recognition).
My first thought was that I’d spend a lot of time being a tourist (where no-one will pay attention to yet another slightly-out-of-place disheveled person), but if the running man instantly becomes as recognizable as Brad Pitt that may call for a change of strategy.
I think I’d dress as an upper-class business woman, then spend most of my time on trains. It’d be a good cover for needing to travel overnight a lot (with plenty of cash to throw at sleeper cars). It also sounds like the running man is usually lower class or is presumed to be, and well dressed folk draw less suspicion anyway. I’d mail videos of a lump sleeping under a blanket, all recorded on the same night. I know different hair lengths change the shape of my face a lot, so good quality wigs will be in order.
Like constanze, I’m unsure of how good the general population is at seeing through basic disguises. I’m really bad at it, especially when people’s hairlines change - one of my usually bald coworkers showed up to a costume party in a bad wig, and I stood next to him for fifteen minutes without recognizing him. I wouldn’t have recognized him at all if he hadn’t said something. So embarrassing!
I have a high level of competence, but I’ve always thought my good looks would keep me safe.
That’s absurd. Certainly you could find someone to make you new ID papers if your life depended on it and money was no object, and thirty years ago it didn’t exactly take a master forger to fake a passport.
How much money do I get for turning you in?
Presumably nothing, since it takes much less than 24 hours to create a fake ID.
I feel like I missed a post somewhere; what’s the relevance of the 24 hours? The OP just said I’d “get rewarded for spotting you and alerting the Hunters”; how big a reward do I get for spotting you and alerting the hunters?
It was stated the running man would have 24 hours before his face is made public. Or did you plan on calling the cops on everybody who ever needs a fake ID? That really doesn’t seem like it would be good for your health.
No, not everyone, certainly. But once you’re announced as the running man, I might tell them the name and birthdate on the fake ID, along with where and when I last saw you.
Well, duh. That’s only for getting a dozen plane tickets and leaving the country before the chase is on. The next day it’ll be a Canadian citizen on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, or an Irishman in South Africa, or an Australian in Hong Kong…
If you can come up with a scheme to get car/s that aren’t the radar of the police, I think the best thing would be to keep driving. If you’re in a car, you aren’t interacting with other people. And you have to send those videos, so you want to keep moving away from where you send them. I’m not sure what the best way to do that is. Stealing cars? Buying used cars in disguise? Stealing license plates?
Generally I think a big sedan would be best, because a truck or camper is too obvious. Spend all day driving, and pull over somewhere at night and sleep in the trunk. Every time you sleep, stop for supplies or gas, or mail a video, roll dice to pick a random direction to drive in.
Make the background of your videos the same every time. White sheets, the inside of a sleeping bag, or some such. Run a boombox to cover background noises.
Drop the videos off in the evenings. Sometimes in public mailboxes, sometimes at random houses. By the time they’re picked up the next afternoon, you’re long gone. Drop videos off in locations near public transit, so they will think you’re using that instead of a car.
Carry a gun. If anyone who spots you is going to report you, then it’s valid self-defense to kill them. Take their money so it looks like a robbery. Or instead of killing them, take them hostage and use their car, so you have a clean car until someone notices they’re missing. Then kill them. Also kill any cops who pull you over. Use a different gun and different caliber every time you kill someone.
Gain or lose weight. Losing weight is easier because you need less supplies, but being hungry, fatigued and irritable might make you sloppy, so I’m going with gaining. Pig out. Start out fit and cut with a six-pack, and quickly lose it. Start out with long hair. During the first 24 hours, get a short businessman’s haircut. Kill the barber. Switch between your short hair and various wigs.
Get supplies by robbing businesses at night or homes during the day.
Wow, I just read the wiki page on the book.
It kind of has a 9/11 theme near the end there, doesn’t it? eeek
Could I find someone I trusted enough not to turn me in for the reward money? Probably not. Where would you even look for someone to forge a passport for you if you didn’t already have criminal connections?
Also, how can you tell a good fake from one that would fool the average Joe on the street? Would you trust Random Q Forger enough to literally gamble your life that an airport security screen (even early 80s level security) wouldn’t catch it?
Besides, money was apparently an object. The runner had a fair amount but not an unlimited account to draw from.
I’m sure if you ask around at seedy bars and similar establishments someone will know somebody. Fake IDs certainly existed when I was in high school, and to my knowledge none of the people I studied with were criminals. And it doesn’t exactly matter if someone knows where you’ve been if you’re far away from there.
That still doesn’t speak to literally gambling your life that the fake is a decent one.
Getting caught with a fake ID as a teenager is almost a rite of passage. It certainly wasn’t something that could get you killed. It didn’t really matter if they looked fake, either, since a lot of folks looked the other way, anyway.
Maybe you can spot a badly made fake passport (even an early 80s vintage) or maybe not. Can you really be sure that it’s something that passes muster? Enough to risk getting caught? It’s not like they’ll slap you on the risk and take it away. And are you willing to trust the forger isn’t just going to rat you out, anyway?
That part is easy, you kill the forger.