Encounter is an international network of active urban games. Also known as "Схватка" (reads as 'skhvatka') (translated "Combat" from Russian) – the game that gave birth to this project.
Project history
The game rules applied today were developed by belarusian Ivan Masliukov in 2001 as part of the Skhvatka project. Ivan Masliukov was supporting the game at his own expense before the project was ceased in the end of 2001.
At the beginning of spring 2002 Ivan started seeking for donors to continue the project. Minsk internet provider "BelInfonet" company was there to sponsor the game. By June 2002 "Skhvatka" games were resumed.
Disputes over the project arose between Ivan Masliukov and "BelInfonet".
Developers of such games like "Hunt", "Skhvatka", and "Dozor" copied the main idea of Encounter, slightly altering the format and task management. As a result, Ivan separated from partnership with BelInfonet and created an independent Encounter project. A noteworthy fact is both parties of the conflict registered their game name trademarks "Skhvatka" and "Encounter" in 2002 and 2004 correspondingly.
Konstantin Glushakov, who developed "Skhvatka" game application platform from scratch, headed the group of programmers who are currently working on the Encounter platform design and development.
After creation of the Encounter project Skvatka game, being one of several game formats, was called Combat.
Having gone through many stages of development, through criticism and disagreements with BelInfonet, the games labeled Encounter get held in many countries of the world: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, United States, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Germany, Israel and many other. Currently the project involves tens of thousands of participants.
In 2008 several new urban game formats were added to the Combat and Brainstorming. These were PhotoHunt, PhotoExtreme, WetWars, GeoCaching, Caching and Points. In 2009 VideoHunt appeared as a new game among other ones.
The same very year the first book about urban games called "Encounter. Night Extreme" written by Ivan Maslukov was issued.
The filming and processing of documentary about urban games "Encounter: lust for life" over by December 2009.
Stats
The service platform of Encounter makes it possible to hold various urban games within a city or a country. The project covers over 230 cities in Russia and CIS, France and Germany.
Since the beginning of the project more than 8000 games have been held with over 175 000 participants, project managers say.
In 2006 Russian magazine "Kommersant" wrote:
At the end of 2009 the administration of the game network published Encounter annual report:
a new game format Points was started and quickly gained popularity among participants (over 2000 games held) new game formats PhotoSearch and PhotoMuseum based on the PhotoExtreme application were started "Global live help" service launched game domains ranking system launched the first music video and documentary filmed new rewards and regulations for achieving them implemented the fourth All-Russian game was held in Moscow and the first All-Belarusian occurred in Minsk the first issue of General declaration appeared Encounter game network acted as a partner All-Russian educational forum "Seliger-2009" social move "Encounter for life" started up online store of Encounter accessories launched Encounter was invited to Sorbonne.
Franchise
The territorial expansion of Encounter, like for many other projects, is carried out by means of franchising. Anyone interested can obtain the franchising sublicense to hold the games. The potential audience size doesn’t matter, as well as the presence of similar or different games organizers in the region.
Having paid one-time fixed deposit, a registered user obtains owners rights to the third level domain name in en.cx zone. Then he can organize his own game in compliance with the project regulations. For each game held, the author has to transfer fixed sum to the project owners. This sum is determined by the game format (Combat, Brainstorming) and entry fees paid by participants. Organizer sets the rules for his games, specifies their format, timing and participants’ fees.
Most of the Encounter game organizers have other stable sources of income. Still they admit that racing and role-playing can be the main business activity for those who devote most of their time to it. The creator of Encounter Ivan Masliukov chose this option: