Plot
A group of the world's wealthiest and most powerful men, who are themselves tied into law enforcement agencies and criminal underworlds alike, and who also control the international media with their billions, have devised the ultimate entertainment for themselves – simply referred to as "The Tournament" – which takes place at intervals of every seven years.
"Contestants" volunteer, but due to the nature of the tournament are some of the toughest or craziest individuals on the planet – they are expected to kill, and only the last surviving combatant will win the cash prize of £10 million offered by William Randolph Hearst. The men and women running the tournament not only view it as entertainment, but also bet high stakes on the outcome.
For each tournament, combatants are selected from the world's special forces, serial killers, athletes, trained contract killers and assassins. The last combatant standing receives not only the cash prize, but also the glory and reputation of having the title of World's Number 1, and which itself carries the legendary million-dollar-a-bullet contract killing price tag. Each of the contestants carries a tracking device, embedded under their skin, allowing the observers to monitor their movements, and the contestants to track each other. The tournament lasts twenty-four hours, and if no-one has won, then the tracking devices will explode.
The mayhem which takes place is passed off as natural disasters, terrorist outrages, accidents, or put down to rampages committed by lone madmen. The unsuspecting towns where the tournament takes place are randomly selected, and the public never know of its existence. This year, the latest tournament has come to Middlesborough, a town in the United Kingdom – the country with the most prevalent mass surveillance in the world – so that the events of the tournament can be easily followed and recorded through the ever-present CCTV as well as satellite surveillance. They also jam the communications of the emergency services, completely taking over the electronic infrastructure, and the stage is set.
So, anyone interested in a mass fight to the death?
A group of the world's wealthiest and most powerful men, who are themselves tied into law enforcement agencies and criminal underworlds alike, and who also control the international media with their billions, have devised the ultimate entertainment for themselves – simply referred to as "The Tournament" – which takes place at intervals of every seven years.
"Contestants" volunteer, but due to the nature of the tournament are some of the toughest or craziest individuals on the planet – they are expected to kill, and only the last surviving combatant will win the cash prize of £10 million offered by William Randolph Hearst. The men and women running the tournament not only view it as entertainment, but also bet high stakes on the outcome.
For each tournament, combatants are selected from the world's special forces, serial killers, athletes, trained contract killers and assassins. The last combatant standing receives not only the cash prize, but also the glory and reputation of having the title of World's Number 1, and which itself carries the legendary million-dollar-a-bullet contract killing price tag. Each of the contestants carries a tracking device, embedded under their skin, allowing the observers to monitor their movements, and the contestants to track each other. The tournament lasts twenty-four hours, and if no-one has won, then the tracking devices will explode.
The mayhem which takes place is passed off as natural disasters, terrorist outrages, accidents, or put down to rampages committed by lone madmen. The unsuspecting towns where the tournament takes place are randomly selected, and the public never know of its existence. This year, the latest tournament has come to Middlesborough, a town in the United Kingdom – the country with the most prevalent mass surveillance in the world – so that the events of the tournament can be easily followed and recorded through the ever-present CCTV as well as satellite surveillance. They also jam the communications of the emergency services, completely taking over the electronic infrastructure, and the stage is set.
So, anyone interested in a mass fight to the death?
