This year, for the first time, Adelaide Fringe has an interactive genre. Street game experts, Fire Hazard, offer a carefully organised experience for participants to become covert operatives in the heart of Adelaide.

Beginning at the Aperitif Bar, ibis, participants are greeted by code name ‘Magpie’ and given information about their final assessment as spies-in-training. They are then sent to rendezvous with their contact. From there, participants receive a number of documents including envelopes containing covert information, a cipher, and a map. The map is limited to the city centre, mainly focusing on the mall where there are plenty of places to hide things, and plenty of people to hide among.

While each person has a unique experience within the game, they work with partners or alone to complete a number of missions, competing for the top score and a prize. There are five types of missions: rendezvous missions, drop-off missions, pickup missions, intercept missions, and special missions. Each of these assignments are designed to test the participants’ skills at remaining cool undercover – even in the face of a time limit. Code name ‘Magpie’ has people on the lookout for participants. If caught, participants must give their code name or, in the case of a car pulling up, must ride around the city while solving a cipher puzzle. In short, the key is to be discreet and to complete as many missions as possible.

This is a highly exciting experience that makes use of both the city of Adelaide and local knowledge. This is the kind of game you’ve always wanted to play, but never had the organisational skills to make work. Highly recommended for anybody with a few hours free who can move quickly and inconspicuously through a crowd. Take advantage of this Fringe season opportunity; become an undercover operative, you know you’ve always wanted to!