StreetWars was a three-week-long

water gun A water gun (or water pistol, water blaster, or squirt gun) is a type of toy gun designed to shoot jets of water. Similar to water balloons, the primary purpose of the toy is to soak another person in a recreational game such as water fight. ...

"assassination" tournament that was founded in 2004 and still exists today, taking places in different cities around the world. Created by Franz Aliquo and Liao Yutai, the tournament was based on the college and high school game

Assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

. The June 2007 issue of ''Maxim'' magazine had an article written by one of the participants of the 2006 London StreetWar. In August 2014, board game review show

Shut Up & Sit Down Shut Up & Sit Down (often abbreviated to SUSD) is a board game review website and YouTube channel headed by Quintin Smith, Matt Lees, and Tom Brewster. The channel formerly had Paul Dean as a member, and has featured Ava Foxfort, Philippa Warr of ...

released a podcast episode reviewing their experiences of the 2014 London StreetWar.

History and background of the tournament

The tournament is loosely based on the game

, popular among some high school and college students. Aliquo and Liao took the game citywide and opened it to anyone above the age of 18, and changed it to a 3 week long, 24/7 format. Featured in the book "Spray," by Harry Edge, as a tournament known as Water Wars, with different directors than the actual game. The first StreetWars took place in the summer of 2004 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

; subsequent tournaments took place in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

(2004),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(2004),

(2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014),

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

(2005, 2007, 2010, 2015),

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

(2006),

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(2006, 2007, 2010),

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

(2007), and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

(2007). StreetWars' last event was in 2015 in San Francisco and now seems to be defunct, with the last update made to its Facebook page in August 2016 and its website no longer live.

Controversy

Mayor Bloomberg blasts StreetWars

In July 2005, when asked of his opinion on StreetWars, Mayor

Mike Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

said that the creators of StreetWars could probably 'use some psychiatric help'.

Police concerns in London

Before the start of the game in London in July 2006, police voiced concerns that the associated suspicious activities might lead to deployment of officers and waste of resources.

The Shadow Government

While StreetWars was created by Aliquo and Liao, the tournament itself is operated by an organization that calls itself "The Shadow Government", led by two mysterious figures known only as "Supreme Commander" and "Mustache Commander". His signature is a

fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

mandarin gown ''Cheongsam'' (, ), also known as the ''qipao'' () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often se ...

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circul ...

, bottle of Jack Daniels, and

mustache A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...

. The "Mustache Commander" is the fictional alter ego of Yutai Liao, and the "Supreme Commander" – of Franz Aliquo. Alter ego of StreetWars co-creator, Yutai Liao, Mustache Commander made his first appearance in StreetWars during the San Francisco 2005 game. Previous to the SF 2005 game, there has only been the Supreme Commander and the mysterious "Assigner". The now famous giant bottle of

Jack Daniel's Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956. Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" T ...

that greets each and every player at the beginning of every tournament, started with the second appearance of the Mustache Commander (the first was with his signature fedora), in a tunnel in Golden Gate Park in the SF 2005 tournament.The Warriors
radio show Weekend in America follows the Mustache Commander as he meets his players in a tunnel in San Francisco (links to an MP3 file) The Mustache Commander is now often portrayed with a bottle of

in hand.

Past winners

Champions

The 'Champion' is the last assassin standing at the end of the three-week regulation period, or the winner of the sudden death tournament. All games have ended in Sudden Death unless noted. * NYC 2011 – Handsome Brandon – killed Supreme while hiding under a thimble
Brandon Sherman's Facebook page
* London 2010 – Rob Gribbin (FFF). Last man standing * NYC 2010 – Boba Fetch * San Francisco 2010 – Deadspace * NYC 2009 – Midnight Toker
Damien DeJesús's Facebook page
* NYC 2008 – Aqua Man * Paris 2007 – OSS 117 * London 2007 – Alex Blue – 4Strength4Stam Leather Belt * Chicago 2007 – Don Thacker
Website
* San Francisco 2007 – James Flynn * NYC 2006 – Mr. Peter Stevens * London 2006 – Abi Davison-Jenkins and Anita Marsden * LA 2006 – David Jackson * San Francisco 2005 – Redeye Gonzales * NYC 2005 – The Crazy 88's

Most kills

This award goes to the assassin with the most successful hits. * NYC 2011 – Balls Deep (6 kills) * London 2010 – Rob Gribbin, FFF (13 kills) * NYC 2010 – Firefox * San Francisco 2010 – The Shadow Warriors (9 kills) * NYC 2009 – The River Rats (8 kills) * NYC 2008 – Agent Orange (6 kills) * Paris 2007 – Kone * London 2007 – Robert Gribbin (11 kills) * Chicago 2007 – Dos Lobos (5 kills) * San Francisco 2007 – James Flynn (8 kills) * NYC 2006 – Team Bushwick Country Club
Website
(11 kills) * London 2006 – Robert Gribbin (9 kills) * LA 2006 – Brandon Karrer (7 kills) * San Francisco 2005 – Sandra Sunderland (7 kills) * NYC 2005 – Amanda Keylor (7 kills)

Golden Mustache Award

A golden framed

from the Mustache Commander's own personal collection of mustaches, The Golden Mustache Award was first created in the London 2006 game as a reward for the assassin who successfully completes a contract placed on the heads of a wayward team by the Mustache Commander. The award has since been repurposed to live on in future games to acknowledge general excellence in the field of battle. * NYC 2011 – The River Rats * NYC 2010 – Gangster * San Francisco 2010 – Toothless * NYC 2009 – Bobby Drake * NYC 2008 – The Hebrew Hammer * Paris 2007 – Charly Brown (Frederic Gracia) * London 2007 – Shed Squad ("hoo-ha!") * Chicago 2007 – Maryanne of Team A.L.I.C.E. * San Francisco 2007 – Danny Dawson (7 kills) * NYC 2006 – Adrian Goins * London 2006 – David Styles

Killer2 Best Visual Kill Award

* San Francisco 2010 – The Aqua Men
view videos
* NYC 2008 – Frankie the Hipster Slayer
view video
* Chicago 2007 – Big Daddy
view video
* SF2007 – Adam Williumsen
view video
* LA 2006 – The Chi Squad
view video

References

Sources

News coverage
Streetwars tournament reaches finale

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Special Report 21 Aug 2006
Real Life: From office employee to assassin with StreetWars
CNET8 August 2006
Bloomberg Says Creator of StreetWars Could Probably 'Use Some Psychiatric Help'

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

July 26, 2005
Have gun, will squirt 130 compete in Street Wars game, where it's soak or be soaked

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

November 19, 2005
Stalked by a (fake) assassin

Asap (web portal) asap was an Associated Press (AP) multimedia news portal targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds. It was launched in September 2005 with a stated intention of bringing high quality news content to a seemingly underserved readership segment and helping ...

7 October 2005
Games: A Runaway Hit

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

Aug. 22, 2005
On the streets of New York City, adults play a game of 'Assassins'

The Record (Bergen County) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...

August 7, 2005
Girl duo win Street Wars

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Island ...

Sun Aug 27 2006
Ever want to shoot a stranger? Well, you’re in luck
Metro NY, SEP 8th 2006

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Sep 26th 2008
Street Wars London 2010: The Bullets Rain
Urban Travel Blog, Sep 18th 2010

External links

Official StreetWars website

Official Mustache Commander website

Official Supreme Commander website

How Stuff Works
Mustache Commander Flickr stream
{{DEFAULTSORT:Streetwars Live-action role-playing games Pervasive games Postmodern art Contemporary works of art Outdoor locating games Water guns Role-playing games introduced in 2004