Johnny Monsarrat Pranks: Hall of Fame #7: "The Game": The Movie -- Johnny Monsarrat Pranks

January 2, 1998. "The Game" was a Summer 1997 movie starring Michael Douglas. Essentially the movie is one big practical joke... or is it? Anyway, a number of very strange things happen to our hero.

One of my best buddies, Rickland Powell, had the habit of leaving town whenever his birthday came around. Some people go to lengths to escape practical jokes. (Seriously, he usually went out to GenCon which occurs that time of year.)

So that non-denominational holiday gift-giving time, I gave Rickland a single key, marked "CRS". This is an item used in the movie, and is the practical joke analogy of the mafia giving you the black spot of death. I volunteered to take Rickland to dinner sometime. He knew what was coming.

On the fateful day, I was really too busy to plan anything, but eventually "Carpe Diem" got to me. I put the following prank together in about 6 hours.

I picked up Rickland and Vonnie, and drove him towards a "surprise" restaurant location. We drove in the wrong direction to an ATM, because I had to get money. I hopped out, went over to the ATM, but then suddenly ran around behind some buildings and hid. In the car I'd left a stack of color photo blow-ups of Rickland. It was supposed to make him worry.

Meanwhile, I had previously arranged for a taxi driver to pick them up. The taxi driver was a ham and said mysterious spooky things. "Hey buddy, keep your head down, I think we're being followed!"

The taxi dropped them off at Central Square, with instructions to board the subway inbound.

On the subway, a religious zealot was passing out flyers to everyone and generally being a nuisance. But when she passed Rickland and Vonnie, she said "Have a good day, Mr. Powell", and gave Rickland a religious pamphlet with instructions on where to take the subway. This agents was Lorene Leiter (with her boyfriend Mike Newhall hovering nearby as a spotter).

Rickland and Vonnie then took the subway to Medeival Manor, a dinner theater in Boston. Rickland took the opportunity to dodge between subway cars, in case be was being followed.

That's essentially the end of the prank. It makes more sense if you've seen the movie. ( At the dinner theater, I did bribe the actors to pay "special attention" to Rickland. )