The sun in your face, the wind in your hair, what to eat for dinner the only thing on your mind: Spring break is an island of relaxation and relief from the ocean of stresses LHS provides for its inhabitants.
Oh, wait…that’s not everyone. Some
students are stuck in Libertyville with bipolar weather, actually wishing to return to school just so they can engage in some type of social interaction.
However, this year, those forced to spend their week long break in their home state were offered some relief: Night Games.
The Games were created by junior Naveen Rajadhyaksha and his friends when they did not travel to Caribbean or Mexican locales for a week in late March. Instead of wasting their precious time off from the rigors of school and extracurricular activities, they decided to improvise.
“A few friends and I were bored because a lot of people were out of town, and we thought of playing Fugitive as a solution to our boredom,” Rajadhyaksha said.
Fugitive is played outside and consists of two teams: cops and fugitives (or robbers). Before kids are split up into two teams, a course is created for the evening’s game.
For example, the last time Fugitive was played, the course started in Cook Park at 8:00 p.m. Fugitives had to arrive unharmed and free at the Culver’s on Rt. 176 by 9:40 p.m., meaning they aren’t injured and they haven’t been “caught,” by the police. A cop catches a fugitive by shining a flashlight or their car’s headlights on the fleeing fugitive. From there, the fugitive walks to the next round’s starting point, only to start the chase again in the new round. After that, fugitives had to make it to Copeland School playground by 10:20 p.m. Then, fugitives had to make it back to Cook Park by 11 p.m. in order to “win.”
The fugitives trek from place to place on foot, evading capture, aiming to make it to the last destination of the night a free fugitive.
The cops patrol either on foot or in cars, but they always possess a flashlight and a fierce determination to capture the robbers. Fugitives have the liberty to run through random backyards and hide in strategically placed bushes, but since most of the cops use cars to travel through the course, they can not only move faster, but they can disguise themselves as average citizens in order to capture their prey. There is no true winner—the goal to make it to the last round as a free fugitive really serves to bolster one’s pride or grant bragging rights.
“Initially, there were about 20 people. The last night of Spring Break, 80 people played,” Rajadhyaksha said. “After Spring Break, I took the initiative and created a facebook group.”
The night Rajadhyaksha created the facebook group, it boasted 170 members. Currently, over 400 Libertyville kids consider themselves fugitives. Night Games is beneficial on multiple levels.
Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors enjoy the activity. Together. As kids attempt to navigate their way through a shadowed Libertyville, coalitions form, as every player wants to survive the game.
“The adrenaline kicks in, as if you’re getting chased by real cops. Every time you see a car light, you run and hide,” sophomore Nicole Zhang said. “It’s actually a great place to make new friends.”
The upperclassman egotism and underclassman inferiority present in the halls of LHS ceases to exist when a senior meets a freshman who knows an uncharted route to make it through to the next round. All in the name of survival, right?
Furthermore, Night Games is an entirely sober activity. As formerly wholesome activities like Wildcat football games and school dances become progressively more intoxicated, the emergence of Night Games is a breath of unclouded air.
Both a representative from the Libertyville Police Department and the students who organize the games expressed a firm belief that the reason the games are so well liked is that they offer kids an alternative to inebriated endeavors.
Moreover, the Games are technically legal—until 9:30 p.m., at least. At the most recent Night Games, the real police, as opposed to the ones involved in the game, allegedly issued some students public disturbance tickets for running around past curfew and making unnecessary noise. Libertyville parks, like Cook Park (the central meeting place), officially close at 9:30 p.m. However, the games continue until 11 p.m., when the town’s curfew hits. Rajadhyaksha makes an effort to end the evening’s game at 11 p.m. so participants don’t miss curfew by an inappropriate amount.
Since the Games’ inception, Rajadhyaksha has spent a fair amount of time organizing the Games. “I’ll keep the [facebook] group going until it gets boring,” he said. “As far as the Games go, I want to mix it up; I’m thinking about some Capture The Flag for the next game.”
Rajadhyaksha tried to collect money from participants at the last game. Contrary to popular belief, the money did not go toward augmenting his personal spending account. He divvies up the money to the “cops” who patrol by automobile for three hours, feeling that he owes them a couple bucks for gas.
So, as the scent of summer wafts through the dingy halls of LHS these last few weeks of school, kids attempting to remain coherent in class are consumed by thoughts of being chased by cops on nights illuminated only by fireflies and flashlights or strategizing with their classmates to find the best route through no-man’s-land in order to capture the flag.
photo from Wikipedia Commons
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