Aircraft Carriers

Strange Games reader D. Harbinger sent in this game.  He insists that he has played it with colleagues in the Navy.  There is no shaky mobile phone footage to prove it....but it sounds just mad enough to be real.  Even if it is not real,  surely this is a game that will catch on.

Aircraft Carrier is an almost unbelievably silly and dangerous game that should in no way be encouraged, as playing it will almost certainly result in pain of some sort. However, it is an inspired high concept human simulation game that needs to be known about.

The game is an attempt to simulate the process of landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier. In real life, because of the limited length of runway on a carrier, the plane's speed is reduced by the use of a catching wire stretched across the runway. A hook on the base of the jet's tail then catches onto this wire.

To play the human version you will need a long smooth table to take the role of the landing deck, two players with a rope to be the catching wire, one player to be the plane, and two further players to throw him.
The catching players stand either side of the table and stretch the rope over it and a few inches above the surface. Two players then pick up the 'airplane' player by holding an arm and a leg each and swing them and then throw them head first along the table. It is the catching players' role to try and stop the 'airplane' by pulling the rope taut as the 'airplane's' feet pass over it. It is the airplane's job to try and stop his forward motion using his feet and ankles against this rope. Safely landing in the game is a lot less sure than in real life.