One game I love is tag. The mechanics of tag involve running and the action of tagging someone (that takes place during a chase). The chase during the game of tag and the running action create challenge. The kind of fun that I derive from this is Hard Fun, which is “in the moment personal triumph over adversity” (according to Nicole Lazzaro). This is because it is difficult to chase people who are running, when one has the role of “it”. This is because when the people one is chasing are running, their speed increases significantly from their walking speed. It follows that in order to properly tag someone, one must increase one’s speed accordingly to a proper running speed. When one does not have the role of “it”, it is difficult to evade being tagged by the person who is “it”. This follows from similar logic, that most likely if the person who is “it” is chasing someone, then they are running. Being chased by someone who is running takes more energy than being chased by someone who is walking or standing, because this necessitates oneself to try to outrun the person who is “it” in order to evade being tagged. These two challenges show that both the person who is “it” and the people being chased experience Hard Fun (at least in my experience).
