You may have a childhood memory of playing a game of tag, but that memory probably would not look like this record-breaking game.
On 16 September, a record attempt for the largest game of tag took place at Expo Commemoration Park in Osaka, Japan.
It was hosted by Fischer’s, a YouTube channel with more than 5.8 million subscribers. Many of Fischer’s videos feature having fun in parks and adventure playgrounds across Japan with tag being a recurring theme. The team set themselves an extremely tough target of 10,000 participants which would far exceed the total to beat of 2,202.
Throughout the event, Fischer’s not only attempted to break the record, but also interact with their fans, and with them, create something new and amazing. And the result was spectacular:
It was five of the Fischer’s members – Silk Road, Ndaho, Masai, Motoki, Zakao – who had to chase and tag the massive number of participants. To verify the turnout of the event, each participant placed a pair of number tags which was placed in front and back of their body. To distinguish those who had already been caught from those who are still in the run, caught participants had to immediately peel of the front number tag.
In order for the record to be approved, participants had to play the game properly; anyone not attempting to run away from the chaser or deliberately running towards the chaser to get tagged, would be disqualified and removed from the final count. To monitor the game around 250 inspectors were placed around the venue while an auditing firm was also on site to make sure the final count for the record is correct.
Fischer’s largest game of tag was quite a sight. In the 30-minute-long game, a mass crowd (hundreds at a time!) ran across the field as they were chased by one of Fischer’s members. Despite the desperate chase by the members and tagging thousands of people, the majority of participants managed not to get caught.
It was also evident that fans of Fischer’s were ecstatic to be able to collaborate with their favourite YouTuber to break a Guinness World Records title.
After the game was over, the auditing firm had confirmed that there were 10,908 participants who played the game properly, and Fischer’s had officially broken the record. In front of the excited crowd, an official certificate was presented to Silk Road.
“I’m happy to have broken the record, and am thankful (for everyone involved), but at the same time my legs are shaking so I want to take a bath as soon as we can. We have some more record ideas – although it might be a while before we can actually do it, we are hopeful!” – Silk Road (Fischer’s)
