Game Control Rap from the BARF 1 Video.


Clue "stationery" for BARF I.

The first BARF game started at the Malibu Fun Center just north of Stanford... the first ever BARF clue was a "rap" given at the end of the Game's intro video.

This Game took teams 16+ hours, and brought them to locations ranging from the Stanford Campus, to the Skylawn Cemetary, to SFO. 

Date:        5/17/1987
Game Ctl:  Joe Belfiore, Eli Ben-Shoshan, Andrew Reisner
Winners:    Yellow Team -  George Webb (capt), Ron Keesing, 
                Steve Spillette, Rich Shapiro, Mike Chen, Jay Jay Aliwalas

Most memorable clue/location:

You remove a thick, blank sheet of cardboard from a locker at SFO...  You can't open it, and nothing is written on it.  What do you do?

Answer: Pass it through the airport x-ray machines, and the screens read "South San Francisco, The Industrial City".  (references huge sign)

2) BARF II: "The Players Revenge"

To save time in creating the second-ever major league Game, Game Control decided to mandate that each participating team create a leg in the game, and then assembled them together with their own beginning and ending.

This format has never been repeated since it was used in 1987. 

Date:        7/22/1988
Game Ctl:  Joe Belfiore, Eli Ben-Shoshan, Andrew Reisner
Winners:    Yellow Team -  Ron Keesing, Christine Chang, Mike Rocklin,
                Ric Simmons

Most memorable clue/location:

The beginning of BARF II, which also set a new Game trend-- creators STOLE THE AUTOMOBILES of all the players, taking all 7 cars to the other side of San Francisco Bay, leaving teams at the start of the Game to rely only on public transportation.

3) BARF III:  Who Killed Game Control?
3/12/1989

4) BARF IV:  The Reunion
Date unknown

5) BARF V:  Mission Impossible
1/21/90
 

The opening moments of BARF IV, as players listen and record the initial instructions...

Game Ctl:   Ric Simmons, Ron Kesing, James Porter Winners:     Pink - David Rubenstein (capt), Joe Belfiore, Eli                  Ben-Shoshan, Paul Graham, Ashley Kissinger, Steve Nagy,                  Sheri Tye, Sanjoy Mahajan Memorable Clue/Location: Throughout the game, teams were pursued by hooded, armed "agents" with guns.  If you were shot, you had to retrieve an "antidote" or the team member was dead for the remainder of the game. This was also the first game ever to receive press attention.

6) BARF VI:  The Final Objective
5/28/90

Game Control as "the Stanford Revival Group" welcoming teams to BARF VI

Game Ctl:   Joe Belfiore, Eli Ben-Shoshan, Tom Harding, Steve Nagy,                   David Rubenstein; with Rob Elhardt Winners:     Yellow - Ron Keesing, James Porter, Ric Simmons, Steve                   Jurvetson, Grace Ho Memorable Clue/Location: "The Kids". At 3am, you arrive at a clue location, only to find the locked box containing your clues smashed open, clues are gone.  A gang of pain in the ass high school kids makes fun of you, and Game Control refuses to help over the phone. When a kid offers to take you to the mini-mart where the thief went with your clues, it doesn't even occur to you that the whole thing is a set up and part of the game...  not until much later, when the kid starts reciting obscure poetry and tests you on your philanthropic skills. Click here to see local KRON news coverage.

And 2 last games took place in the Bay Area before The Game moved elsewhere ...

 

Game	Date	Location	Game Control	winners
7) Committee to Re-Elect the President	8/14/1993	Stanford, CA	Andrew Burke, Ira Lit	Red - Joe Belfiore, Eli Ben-Shoshan, David Rubenstein, Tom Harding, Steve Nagy
8) On the Trail of the Assassin	8/6/1994	Napa, CA	Tom Carey, George Monteverdi	Red - Joe Belfiore, Colin Bryar, David Rubenstein, Joel Rubenstein, Tom Harding, Kelly Mallon

The ninth game, "Engenetics:  The EnCat Weekend" took place in Seattle.  See 'The Games' section of this site for more information.