From their homelands, some from Syria, some from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Morocco,
Tunisia, Somalia, Lebanon, Eritrea, or Egypt, they began on paths towards countries in which they
expect a better life.

Some left behind a broken home and their closest family members, some began the journey alone,
others with a kid, a spouse, a brother, a friend… Some were left without some of them on the way.

They stayed in various places, in various countries, and remembered scary, but nice impressions. They
remembered details such as the singing of birds, flowers in forests, butterflies, the sky, people they
crossed, cars, landscapes, the border, jail, private centers, trains, and dreams that they dreamt when
they were able to fall asleep.
One of the penultimate stations on this trip at which they rest and intensify their preparation to play the
“game” is in the North of Serbia, in Vojvodina, moving from Sombor to Subotica, and to which they are
sometimes returned after the “game”. That’s where we met.
“If you pass through, you win. That’s why we call it a game” (explanation of a 15 year old migrant
from Afghanistan). This is a dangerous and cruel game. An action in which human interaction has all the
characteristics of a game, including strategies, winners and losers, rewards and punishments, profits and
costs, but from which some, unfortunately, do not return alive or all traces of them are lost.
In this game, in addition to the players, the following also participate: guides, taxi drivers, smugglers,
border police…
It is a tactical game of combinatorics, chance, and gamble. It is also an agonistic, aleatoric, mimicry
dizzying game. You must be physically ready for it – for marathon walks and various obstacles on the
field: cold, rain, deep rivers, stray dogs, wild animals, thirst, hunger, barbed wire on the border…
During this game, it happens that players wander off in an unknown area, are bitten by wild or trained
dogs, are robbed, beaten, injured by the fall from a wired fence, and injured by weapons or firearms.
In the Game, safety and security are replaced by violence and intimidation by people in power. It’s a
game of survival that takes place in hostile, intense environments. It starts with minimal equipment, and
the longer it lasts, the greater the need is for skills to make necessary tools, and shelter and collection of
necessary resources with the clear goal of moving to the nearest Western European country.

This game requires:

• that you are a migrant
• that you have a mobile phone
• that you have sports shoes
• preferably, that you have a backpack which contains water, an energy drink, a few chocolate bars, a
  sleeping bag, and a blanket or a rug
• that you have at least 1000 to 4000 euros