A similar, but
subtley different game to this can be played in the busy
shopping area of
Grafton Street in
Dublin,
Ireland. Typically, along the 5-minute narrow walk there are more than 20
charity workers interspersed amongst the high
density of shoppers.
Their sole aim is to recruit you: convince you to sign a standing order for £x a month to their charity. There are at least four different charities (eg. Concern, Gorta, ISPCA, Sight Savers). The workers are paid professionals and after weeks standing on the street, know exactly how to pick the people with guilty consciences. A weak-willed friend of mine hands over £20/month to several charities, and can't be bothered writing the letters to his bank telling them to cancel them. Besides, they have his address...
Anyway, that's the background: the point of the game is to negotiate your way down the street without being accosted or even so much as glanced at by any of the workers. This is a lot harder than it seems... they have an eye for people who are trying to avoid them, they strategically place themselves in different formations to catch people on any part of the street, and lately they've taken to wearing plainclothes, which means the only way to identify them is by the half-concealed clipboards they hold against their chests.
I've never successfully managed to complete the game yet... which is incredible given the amount of people on the pedestrianised street. But I've gone from lasting around 10 seconds to being able to hold a nonchalent attitude for 2 minutes or more.